The Lone Riders
by FireIsCatching17
Summary: Harry Potter discovers he is a Rider during the Tri-Wizard Tournament's First Task. The dormant Rider blood in his veins awakens new powers and transforms him into something... more. Now he is responsible for the safety of his dragons, which means freeing them from their enslavement by one of Voldemort's closest followers: a Rider named Seniori. Bad!Ron, H/Hr, brother!Neville
1. Adena

**Lemme know what you guys think of the story when you finish it! This chapter is much shorter than the rest will be, so I can promise there will be longer chapters.**

 _ **Harry Potter discovers he is a Rider during the Tri-Wizard Tournament's First Task. What will he do when he awakens the dormant blood flowing through his veins? Save the dragons from the Lone Rider keeping them enslaved of course. H/Hr, bad!Ron**_

Harry tried to convince himself that it was alright, he didn't need support from Ron in order to make it through the task. This would be a breeze. He had practiced and practiced his Summoning Charm and had gone over and over in his head what he was going to do when it was his turn. Hermione was right, it was fairly simple. All he had to do was –

A roar and screams from the outside of the tent made him flinch. He forced himself to take a deep breath and then release it slowly. This was okay. He would be fine. He had to be fine.

Slowly, the raven-haired Gryffindor opened his hand and stared at the animated dragon sleeping soundly curled up in his palm. Little puffs of smoke would blow out from his mouth when he exhaled and the longer Harry watched, the more he found himself relaxing and he smiled slightly. Cautiously, he ran one finger down the dragon's back and chuckled as it stretched out like a cat against his finger.

The Hungarian Horntail gently nipped his finger, much like Hedwig did. Harry had to hold back a chuckle and almost forgot about his Task until he heard the booming voice summoning him into the arena and he felt the blood drain from his face. Gulping, Harry put the dragon into his pocket with a shaking hand and gripped his wand tightly in his right hand as he stood up and made his way to the exit of the tent.

He paused for a moment, taking deep breaths to calm himself. He might be young, and he might not have wanted to go through with this, and everyone might hate him, but there was no way he was going out there looking like some scared, lost little kid. Harry hardened his expression and pulled his shoulders back, his mouth fixing into a line of grim determination. If he was going to be forced to do this, he was going to do this right.

Harry stepped into the arena.

There must have been some sort of charm on the tent to prevent him from hearing most things going on in the arena, because he was immediately assaulted with screams and cheers and boos and taunts. But he ignored them, because that wasn't the problem. The problem was the Hungarian Horntail crouching over her eggs and straining against the chain on her leg. She was howling in confusion and fear and to Harry's horrific surprise, he could hear what she was bellowing. _What is going on? What do you want with me?_

Suddenly the dragon's nose flared and her eyes locked on Harry. Every plan he had went flying out of head when that gaze, that terrified and rage filled gaze, met his own. _Are you trying to hurt my eggs? The others had their eggs injured or destroyed._ She hissed at him and let loose a roar of fire from her mouth. Harry managed to cast an effective Aqua Shield Charm, which he knew from Hermione was a more effective shield against fire, and hissed back. _I'm not here to injure your eggs! I promise!_

The fire stopped, but Harry kept his shield up just in case as the dragon stared at him with guarded interest, unmoving from her protective position over her eggs. Harry felt a twinge of sympathy for her. But only a twinge. She had just tried to burn him to a crisp a moment ago _. A Rider? I have not met one in… many years. Rider, what is your name? Explain to me why I am here and my eggs are in danger!_

Harry lowered his charm hesitatingly, but the dragon just waited for an answer and didn't try to burn him again, so Harry decided to answer her question. _My name is Harry Potter, ma'am._ He stumbled to add, unsure if the dragon had a name or would be offended if he did not address her properly. He had no intention of becoming a crisp. _You were brought here for these idiotic humans entertainment. Harry scowled and jerked his thumb over at the judges. There is a Tournament going on called the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the first task the champions have to face is dragons. We have to collect the golden egg from your nest, without hurting any of your other eggs_.

The dragon huffed out a puff of smoke, but thankfully didn't try to burn Harry again, which relieved him immensely. _I understand, Rider Potter. I was forced to participate in a similar Tournament years ago. These stupid humans seem to think they have the right to do as they wish with our lives, and risk the precious lives of our children, and I will not stand for it!_ She howled.

Harry was quick to agree with her and not just because she could crush him so easily. _I was forced to participate too. I had no intention of doing this, but they are forcing me, regardless._ He scowled for a moment, the rage bubbling up in him before he shoved it away and met the dragon's gaze once again. _I will not allow any harm to come to you or your eggs, I promise you that._

For some bizarre reason, the dragon's glowing yellow eyes seemed to soften from lightning to the color of melted butter. _I trust you, Rider Potter. A Rider would never harm a dragon; it goes against the very nature of them._ She seemed to inhale deeply _. Rider Potter, have you never met a dragon before?_

 _No_. Harry admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand _. I have not. Why do you call me Rider Potter, ma'am? Harry is just fine for me._

The dragon snorted in an offended manner and Harry was suddenly reminded of the way Hermione got offended when he commented on the size of her books. _Rider Potter, I shall not call you anything else_ because _you are a Rider. It would be disrespectful. I can smell the Rider blood flowing through your veins, stronger than any I have ever encountered before. It is dormant, of course, because you have not yet gone through the Rider ritual. Rider Potter,_ she changed the subject abruptly, staring at Harry with intensity in her eyes that made Snape look like he wasn't even trying. _If I allow you to have this golden egg, you must come and visit me as soon as it is possible. There are many things I must tell you, but there is not time here. Give me your word._

Harry hesitated, looking from the dragon to the egg she was crouched over before he steeled himself and looked the dragon dead in the eye. _You have my word, ma'am, that I will come and visit you as soon as I find possible._

This seemed to calm her, because she dipped her head to him as if bowing and after a split second Harry bowed back to her, and they rose as one _. Do not disappoint me, Rider Potter._ She warned, before baring her teeth in what Harry thought was a smile. He hoped it was a smile and she wasn't just thinking about leaving him with a goodbye gift. _My name is_ – she broke off into a combination of hissing, growling, and gurgling noises that Harry didn't quite understand. Then, upon seeing his confused face, she rumbled an amused growl. _However, until you learn the language of the dragons further, you may call me Adena._

The dragon, Adena, Harry corrected himself, moved from her crouched position and gently picked up the golden egg between her teeth, then closed the distance between them as she placed the egg into Harry's outstretched hands _. Take care, Rider Potter._ She warned. She was so close Harry could feel the heat from her breath as she growled on his arms. It didn't burn, though. Instead, it felt comforting and spiked his adrenaline.

Without thinking, Harry reached up and ran his hand down along the side of her face. He smiled when she nuzzled his small hand with her gigantic head and bowed to her once more as he dropped his hand and clutched the egg tightly _. Thank you, Adena, for your understanding. I shall not forget my promise to you._

 _See that you do not, Rider Potter._ Adena rumbled as she bowed back to him, lowering her head and extending one of her front legs out.

Harry rightened himself and grinned at her before he turned around and made his way out of the arena. He was vaguely aware that it was completely silent and no one was cheering and no one was booing, but Harry couldn't bring himself to care. He was too busy wondering about what just happened. Unfortunately, he didn't get any time to think before he was bombarded by the full force of Madame Pomfrey.

"I can't believe… Dragons… What were they thinking?" she fussed as she looked him over for injuries and then blinked in surprise and the corners of her mouth turned down into a frown. "Mr. Potter… You don't seem to have any injuries."

Harry shook his head and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his mouth. It still seemed surreal that he had talked to a dragon and gotten out of the Task completely unscathed. Any moment now he expected himself to wake up from this dream to his alarm forcing him to roll out of bed and go and actually compete in the Task. "No, Madame Pomfrey." He replied simply, deciding he didn't want to tell anyone about his conversation with Adena. At least not until he learned more, such as what was a Rider, what did she mean when she said he had Rider blood, and what sort of ritual he was supposed to go through.

Flicking his gaze to the side, he frowned a little bit when he saw Cedric sitting on the bed with the side of his face swathed up in cloth and walked over towards him. "Cedric?" he asked, a little hesitantly, because he still wasn't sure where he stood with the older boy. "Are you alright?" he asked, trying not to sound alarmed. "What happened?"

Cedric turned so he could see him with the side of his face not covered in bandages and the Hufflepuff grinned at him, his eyes wild and still full of adrenaline. "Harry! Glad to see you made it through in one piece!" his hand hovered over his bandages ad he grimaced. "Got burned just as I got the egg, but Pomfrey said there won't even be a scar when it is healed!" he seemed rather happy about that.

Harry relaxed and grinned teasingly at him. "Well, that's a good thing. Wouldn't want that pretty face all scarred up now would we? Then where would you be?"

Cedric laughed off the joke and then peered closer to Harry with his one, more than a little curious by the looks of it. "Harry, what happened out there? I was still getting patched up, but it sure didn't take you long to get that egg. What did you do?"

The raven-haired Gryffindor just looked at him and shrugged one shoulder. "I talked to her and she gave me the egg."

Cedric was gaping at him, but before he had the chance to say anything more, someone with bushy brown hair came running out of nowhere and flung herself at Harry, throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing him so hard Harry was afraid she was going to break his ribs. "'Mione!" he gasped out, wrapping his arms around her to hug her back. He was careful to not let go of his golden egg.

"Oh, Harry!" she cried and pulled back but kept her hands on his shoulders. Her eyes darted around him as if to make sure he wasn't injured and her brown eyes were stern. "Harry I was so scared when you didn't call for the broom! What happened? We couldn't understand anything, you were just growling and hissing and roaring at the Dragon and she was doing the same back and – "

"Hermione! Breathe!" Harry felt the strange urge to laugh, but forced himself not to because he knew it wouldn't help the situation. Right now he needed to reassure his best friends that he was alright. When Hermione seemed to calm down, he put his egg by his feet and grasped both of her hands to look her earnestly in the eyes. "I'm alright. I promise and I'll explain everything that happened later. I'm going to need your help." He grinned wryly. "We have lots of research to get started on."

That comment made his bushy haired friends excited and confused at the same time but before she could open her mouth to ask him any questions, suddenly Ron was making his way through the tent. His face was redder then his hair and his eyes were dark and wild. Warily, Harry put himself between Ron and Hermione. "Ron, mate, what's – "

Ron's punch came out of nowhere, landing right smack on his jaw and making Harry stumble back a step and unable to do anything but stare at his best friend in shock as he screamed at him. "I knew it! You used Parseltongue to talk to that dragon, Potter! You must be a Dark Wizard," he snarled, eyes blazing. "There is no other way you would have been able to get out of that unscathed."

"Ron!" Hermione protested indignantly, her voice filled with rage. The last time he heard her that angry was when Ron had accidently burned her study schedule. "What are you talking about? Harry isn't a Dark Wizard!"

"Yes he is, Hermione. Only Dark Wizards use Parseltongue like that. Everyone knows he was talking to the dragon, who knows what he promised it in order to get the egg. He's probably going to feed it a bunch of first-years." Ron said coldly. "I had thought that Harry would stay Light no matter what, because he's _Harry_ , but I guess I was wrong." He sneered at Harry, ignoring Hermione's outraged protests. "You listen here, Potter. I've got my eye on you. I don't know what your plan is with this Tournament, but I'm not going to let you get away with it. I was right all along, Cedric _is_ Hogwarts true Champion."

Those words cut deep, but Harry forced himself to ignore it as he replied coldly back to Ron. "Think what you may like. I am not a Dark Wizard, Weasley, but you should watch yourself and remember who it is you're threatening. I don't want to, but I won't hesitate to defend myself against you should you choose to do something stupid."

Ron scowled at him before he spun around and stormed out of the tent. Once he was gone, Harry sighed and released the tension he had been holding and allowed Hermione to tip his jaw back to see how badly Ron hit him. Hermione lightly ran her fingers over the spot and Harry winced slightly. She grimaced. "You're going to have a bruise. We could ask Madame Pomfrey for some healing salve." Then she nodded briskly, mind made up. "I'll go fetch some for her."

When Hermione was gone, Harry sat on the edge of Cedric's bed and picked up his egg, running his hand through his hair to relieve some of his frustration as he replayed the conversation with Ron in his head. "Harry?" Cedric spoke up suddenly, and when Harry turned around to face him, the older boy was staring at him intently. "You do know I'm not mad at you for being picked. And I know you didn't put your name in the Goblet."

Harry managed a shaky smile. "Thanks, Cedric. That means a lot. No one really believes me about that, but you've probably figured that out by now." He gave a little shrug with his shoulders. "But that's alright. We both know I didn't put my name in the Goblet and that you are the true Hogwarts Champion." He smiled to try and wipe Cedric's concern look off of his face.

Cedric's frown, however, deepened instead of going away like Harry was hoping it would. His eyes were thoughtful; as if he was faced with a puzzle he had the pieces to but couldn't figure out what the big picture was supposed to be. "That's not enough, Harry. I know you don't want to admit it, but I know you've gone through a lot. I'm going to help you convince the school that you didn't put your name in the Cup. Starting with getting rid of those goddamned badges." He scowled.

"'Arry!" A sweet, desperate voice cried his name from behind him and he turned around to see Fleur and Krum walking towards him. Fleur wrapped her arms around him in a hug and kissed both of his cheeks, making his cheeks tinge pink. "What you did, zat was amazing! I've never zeen anything like it before!"

Chuckling, Harry hugged the French girl back with a small smile on his face. "Thanks, Fleur. I wish I could've watched the rest of you. It was so nerve-racking just sitting there and waiting." He stepped back from the hug and frowned a bit when he noticed her skirt was partially burned off. "What happened? Did the fire catch you?"

But Fleur wasn't listening, Instead, she was examining the slowly forming bruise on his jaw where Ron had punched him. "Oh, 'Arry! What happened here? I did not zee you get injured in ze arena." Her hands were cool and gentle, but Harry nervously pulled away from her touch. It felt… different, then when Hermione had touched it to examine it.

In response to her question, he merely shrugged and scowled darkly. "My ex best friend decided to let his opinions over my performance be known and claimed I was a Dark Wizard. Then he hit me." Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, biting down on his bottom lip as he forced himself to stop thinking about it. "Anyway, you're changing the subject." He chided and took a step back to examine her burned skirt. "What happened?"

Fleur frowned delicately at the abrupt change of subject but seemed to understand that he didn't want to talk about it because she immediately launched into her tail of bravery and heart-stopping fear as she battled the menacing dragon for her egg. What should have been a short tail was dragged out as only a woman would be able to do and Harry was forever grateful when Hermione showed up with the healing salve. She clucked in an eerily similar manner to Madame Pomfrey as she gingery appied the salve on Harry's bruise. He let out a soft sigh as the cool paste was applied on his skin and smiled at Hermione when she finished. "Thanks, 'Mione."

Hermione smiled back at him but if she was going to say something, he didn't know what because just then they heard he judges announcing the scores for the Champions.

"Due to the most unusual of circumstances, it caused a slight delay in the awardence of points to our champions." Dumbledore's voice echoed through the air, penetrating the silencing shields around the tent that someone had set in place. "In fourth place, with a total of 32 points and a time of 22 minutes and thirteen seconds is Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Academy!" There was a round of cheers and polite applause and Harry grinned at Fleur, who looked a bit dejected but happy nonetheless.

"In third place," Dumbledore continued when the applause and cheers died down. "With a total of 35 points and a time of 20 minutes and forty-seven seconds is Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts!" The cheers and applause were much louder this time around and Harry shot a grin at Cedric, who grinned back and gave him thumbs up. Harry could've sworn that he heard the growl of a badger coming from the crowd, but dismissed the ridiculous notion immediately.

"Then in second place," Dumbledore continued when the noise and applause once again died down. "With a total of 37 points and a time of 19 minutes and twenty-two seconds is Viktor Krum of Durmstrung Academy!" There were screams and cheers and gasp at Dumbledore's words, but the Headmaster continued speaking over them. "Which means, that with a total of 39 points and a time of 5 minutes and two seconds is Harry Potter of Hogwarts!" The screams and cheers and applause seemed to shake the tent and this time Harry knew for sure he heard the roar of a lion and, despite himself, he couldn't help the large grin that formed on his face as he turned to Viktor and held out his hand. Immediately, Viktor clasped it and stared at him intently. "Congratulations, Harry. I underestimated you because of your age but I will take more care in the future."

Harry laughed and shook his hand but kept his hand clasped with Viktor's. "Thank you, Viktor. And a job well done. I'm pleased I superseded your standards of me." The moment he let go of Viktor's hand, a squealing mound of bushy brown hair was bugging him again and Harry found himself laughing more today than he had all school year as he half-listened to Hermione congratulating him. He took her hand in his and walked out of the tent, fully intending on going to the Gryffindor Tower and catching a few hours of sleep before he went to go talk to Adena, and explain to Hermione what had happened.

Outside of the tent, he was mobbed by the entire Gryffindor House. He saw Dean and Seamus screaming at him from the crowd, grinning with their thumbs up and he laughed and waved at them. Neville rushed up to his side with flushed cheeks from the cold and sparkling eyes. "I knew you could do it Harry! Ron kept blabbering all this rubbish about you, just ignore him, no one is listening to him."

Harry smiled; feeling elated as he grinned at Neville and clapped his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Thanks, Neville." He lowered his voice into a whisper. "Think you can help me escape these crowds?" he grimaced and looked around at all of the screaming students. "I think my eardrums are going to burst." Instead of the affirmative he was expecting, Neville just smirked and shoved him towards the crowd where Fred and George caught him.

"Hey Harry!" Fred chirped and George laughed. "Need a lift?" Ignoring his surprised yelp, they lifted him onto their shoulders and Harry grunted as he buried his right hand in George's hair and his lift hand in Fred's hair to balance himself and keep from falling.

"Neville," Harry complained, craning his neck to get a glimpse of the little traitor. "I'll get you for this!" He spotted Neville shaking with laughter and Hermione standing next to him with her hand over her mouth and eyes shining with amusement and silent laughter. "NEVILLE!" He was unable to do anything more, because Fred and George started chanting 'Harry is Our Champion' and then everyone was yelling it. Harry felt thoroughly pleased and extremely embarrassed, but he laughed and grinned until his cheeks hurt because he finally had his House back and it felt _good_.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The First Task had taken place after lunch, so the Gryffindors had a party that lasted until it was time for dinner. The congratulations and praises still hadn't stopped, but Harry just flashed everyone who said something a grin and nod and eventually they went away and let him eat his dinner in peace. Ron was sitting at the other end of the table, which was fine with Harry. Hermione sat next to him and Neville was sitting across from him at the end of the table away from the rest of the Gryffindors. After a little hesitation, Harry decided to tell Neville what had happened as well as Hermione, because he seemed to be genuinely interested unlike everyone else who just asked with envy or wariness.

Quietly, so no one would overhear, he began explaining his conversation that he had with Adena. Hermione's eyes grew steadily wider and wider while Neville just listened attentively with a thoughtful look on his face. When he finished, Neville was the first to speak. "Well…" he began thoughtfully. "It isn't impossible. There have been legends of Riders dating back centuries." He frowned slightly. "But everyone thought they went extinct in the 1600's, which is why we don't learn about them in school anymore."

"How do you know about them, Neville?" Harry asked curiously, a little taken aback that he knew anything at all. He's never even heard of these Riders and didn't even think that anyone else may know anything since he's never heard anyone talk about them before.

Neville's cheek started glowing red and he looked a little sheepish. "All Pure-Bloods start taking lessons on various things once they turn five, and I remember the legend of the Riders from one of my classes." He frowned a bit. "That's all I remember though. I know there was more to it, but I can't remember what book it is in."

"We can look through the library here." Hermione said briskly, her chocolate brown eyes sparkling with excitement at the prospect of learning something know. "There must be some books about it. Hogwarts Library is one of the biggest in England." She paused for a moment to chew thoughtfully on a spoonful of mashed potatoes before she swallowed and said, "You know, Viktor may know something about Riders, or Fleur. They come from different countries, so they might have heard legends of Riders that we haven't."

Harry found himself smiling with mild amusement fluttering within him. "You two are taking this awfully well. When she told me, I thought I was going crazy and was going to wake up and find out it was all a dream."

Hermione rolled her eyes at and after she chastised him for talking with his mouth full, she said, "A dragon told you you're a Rider, Harry. I've read about dragons in the Wizarding World and they can live for thousands of years and are rumored to be the wisest creatures on the planet. I know you aren't lying, because you would never lie about something like this, so that means it must be true." She smiled and took a bite of some weird chicken with purple sauce on it.

Neville nodded from across the table, taking extra care to swallow his food before he started talking so he wouldn't get lectured by Hermione as well. "That's right, Harry. Dragons are ancient beasts, but no one really knows that much about them." He blinked and his gaze focused on something behind Harry. "Oh, hey Cedric. Did you need something?"

Harry glanced behind his shoulder to see Cedric approaching their table. The Hufflepuff shook his head at Neville's question and smiled at the three of them, gesturing to the empty spot on Harry's left. "You guys mind if I sit here?" he asked, giving them as much of a smile as he could with the bandages still wrapped on half of his face. Upon receiving shaing heads and shrugs, Cedric sat down next to Harry, who shot him a curious glance. "Why'd you come over here? You know the Hufflepuffs are glaring daggers at us."

It was true. Many of the Hufflepuffs were glaring at them with hate in their eyes or at Cedric in confusion and betrayal. Cedric however just rolled his eyes at their antics. "They need to get over themselves." He gave Harry an easy-going smile and clapped his hand on his shoulder. "Hufflepuffs are about loyalty, and I haven't been very loyal to my fellow Hogwarts Champion lately. I intend on fixing that."

Slightly taken aback, Harry smiled at Cedric, feeling a little nervous at what the consequences of his actions might be, but also feeling relieved that he and Cedric were going to be on the same side from now on. "Thanks, Cedric. That's a relief to hear." Harry's protests went unheard as Cedric ruffled his untidy hair.

Hermione raised her wand and cast the Tempus Charm, causing a small frown to form on her face. Harry, if we want to have time to talk to Adena we need to get moving. There's only a couple hours until curfew and I have a lot of questions I want to ask her. Plus, she needs to tell you about whatever Rider ritual you have to go through and Merlin knows how long that is going to take." She fussed, already starting to stand up to leave the Great Hall.

Harry and Neville jumped to their feet behind her and Harry flashed an apologetic smile at Cedric. "Sorry, I know you just sat down with us but we've really got to go. We'll make it up, I promise." Then with those parting words the three friends dashed off, leaving a very confused and very amused Hufflepuff in their wake.

 **Well this little ploy bunny sprung out of nowhere. Review your thoughts on what you think and if I should continue this story! Ask any questions and I will be pleased to answer. I always love hearing your thoughts and suggestions on where this story should lead!**


	2. The Ritual

**I'm so happy with the response this story has generated! Thank you all so much for the reviews. I'm really glad you liked it! Just a short notice, I won't be able to update any of my stories for about a little over a week, I'll be away without access to the internet. Anyway, enjoy the story!**

 **I'd also like to thank _RUGoing2writethat_ for beta-ing this chapter, catching my mistakes and giving me great ideas for future chapters!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the random AU ideas.**

It took a little longer than expected for Harry, Neville, and Hermione to find their way through the Forbidden Forest where the dragons were being held, but they mostly just followed the sounds of roars and snarls and every once in a while a pillar of fire would shoot from the trees into the skies, giving away the location. When they reached the clearing the dragons were in, the first thing they saw was the Chinese Fireball roaring and snapping and snarling while the dragon trainers were trying to get her tied down in her giant cage.

The three quickly walked away from them and tried to attract as little attention as possible as they made their way to the cage Adena was in. The Hungarian Horntail was sitting tall and proud protectively over her eggs inside of her cage, though she relaxed the slightest and ducked her head down in greeting when Harry, Neville, and Hermione walked up to her. Harry bowed back in return, and his two friends did the same after a moment of hesitation.

' _Hello, Adena.'_ Harry greeted with a relaxed smile on his face. ' _I made it back, just as I promised and we should have a couple of hours before I have to go back for curfew. I hope you don't mind, but I brought my friends Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom with me. They were very interested in meeting you.'_

Adena trilled as she swept her gaze over Hermione and Neville. After a few moments she inhaled deeply before releasing the breath in a small puff of smoke. ' _Very well.'_ Adena turned her attention back to Harry and inclined her head _. 'I sense no Rider blood in the female, though there seems to be a faint trace of it in the male.'_

"What did she say?" Hermione asked anxiously, her gaze darting from Harry to Adena. She was wringing her hands together like she always did when she was nervous and Harry automatically reached out to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly. "She said that you don't have any Rider blood in you," he told Hermione apologetically, then glanced curiously at Neville. "But she said that you have a faint trace of it in you."

Neville shrugged at this and didn't seem all that surprised at the revelation. "I'm from a pure-blood family. There aren't very many muggleborns in my family and even less muggles, so it makes sense that there might be some diluted Rider blood, if the legends are true," he added at the last second.

Harry nodded and turned his attention back towards Adena, who stared down at him with that same intensity as before. ' _Rider Potter, while I do not mind the presence of your_ amicis _, as long as they do not interfere, we have much to discuss. It appears your heritage was never fully explained to you. Would you grant me the explanation as to why? You are of age. You should have had the ritual the moment you turned fourteen.'_

Harry shifted his weight from his right foot to his left foot as he uncomfortably answered Adena's question - er - demand. ' _My parents... died, murdered actually, when I was a baby. I have never heard of a Rider until you told me I was one earlier today_.' He hesitated once more before asking, 'W _hat exactly is a Rider, Adena?'_

' _What?'_ Adena roared, causing both Hermione and Neville to flinch and take a step back, even Harry winced at little bit as his ears rang from the magnitude of her roar. ' _Your_ paracletus _were murdered?'_ Adena crouched down in the cage so she was eye to eye with Harry. ' _Rider Potter, has this_ sicarius _been destroyed for the unjust actions he has done?'_

After a whisper from Hermione that _sicarius_ meant killer ('loosely, it could also mean assassin or murderer', she explained), Harry shook his head. ' _No. The...'_ he fumbled with the word a bit. 'Sicarius _has not been destroyed yet, unfortunately.'_ Harry grimaced as he remembered all the past times he has tried to defeat Voldemort. ' _He keeps trying to kill me, though, so I'm really hoping he'll die before he gets the chance to do that.'_

Adena growled and slowly leaned back to her original position over her eggs. Her yellow eyes were blazing like the sun and Harry couldn't find it in himself to keep eye contact with her, even though he knew her rage wasn't directed at him. ' _He will not kill you, Rider Potter. You are a Rider, simple as that, and he will have to face the wrath of all the dragons before he harms you again.'_

The raven-haired Gryffindor blushed lightly and was very grateful his friends couldn't understand his conversation with Adena and was very grateful when Adena continued talking, giving him an excuse to not say anything to that overwhelming statement.

' _To answer your earlier question, Rider Potter, riders have been around since dragons have been around. There cannot be dragons without Riders and there cannot be Riders without dragons.'_ When Harry looked up again, he found her eyes were once again the yellow of soft butter. ' _Riders are charged with the duty of protecting the dragons from forces that would cause them great harm. They would risk anything in order to see no harm comes to them, no matter the consequences. Many Riders in the past have gone to great personal lengths to ensure the safety of even just one dragon.'_ She hesitated a bit. ' _It is difficult to explain, as I assume Riders teach their young Riders different things, but this is what the dragons know of the way Riders operate._

 _When they are fourteen, they go through a short, but very important ritual to awaken the dormant Rider blood in their veins. They are bathed in the fire of the mother of their familiar dragon to begin the ritual. After being bathed in fire, the Rider inside of them will begin to awaken and the transformation will begin. The transformation varies from rider to rider, so when you step from the fire, do not be frightened if your appearance has changed dramatically, and tell your friends not to be afraid either, because it is still you.'_

Harry slowly repeated what Adena said to Hermione and Neville while he digested the information himself, though every once in a while she would have to correct him on something he said, at the end of the explanation, Hermione was looking at Adena with blatant curiosity. "So they don't get burned or injured in anyway when the dragon bathes them in fire? How is that possible?"

Adena returned the young Gryffindor's curious glance with a curious look of her own as their eyes met. ' _Well, essentially, a Rider is something of a dragon themselves, although it doesn't become noticeable until the Rider goes through the ritual. Before the ritual, a Rider is limited. They can only communicate with dragons, resist fire, and locate the dragons. After the ritual, a Rider can do most anything a dragon can do, but the most prominent changes are the physical ones, more than the ones in the mind.'_

Neville let out a small gasp after Harry's translation and when he looked at him Neville's eyes were wide and staring at Adena. "Are you serious?" he asked in a soft whisper. "The legends of the physical differences between regular wizards and Riders are true?"

Adena tilted her head to the side and her expression was something akin to amusement. ' _Yes, they are much like the legends, though details have been left out to protect the secrets of the Riders. There is much about them that even the dragons do not know because they kept their secrets so well hidden. Their physical changes vary with their magical power. A magically powerful Rider may have the ability to call for the wings of a dragon and able to change their weak skin to the strong scales of a dragon. The most powerful have even been said to be able to breathe fire, but even I do not know if that is true or not.'_

Harry translated, and then looked at Adena cautiously. ' _Is this the ritual that you want me to go through?'_ He bit his lip, feeling uneasy. On one hand, having a dragon bathe him in fire was terrifying, but at the same time... It felt like there was a part of him yearning for it, as if this was something he had to do, needed to do or else he would never be complete.

Adena inclined her head in agreement. ' _Yes, this is the ritual I need you to go through. It is not a want, Rider Potter, it is a need. There are very few Riders left, one, to be precise, other than you. You need to awaken your dormant Rider blood and accept your heritage. I would not ask this of you, Rider Potter, unless I was positive. And, if you would agree, I would like to perform this ritual immediately.'_

Stunned, Harry translated what she said to Hermione and Neville. Hermione seemed a bit nervous when he finished, her brown eyes wide as she looked at him. "I don't know, Harry. It sounds dangerous. I mean, I know she says it won't hurt you but... what if it does?" The worry and concern in her words and eyes made Harry pull her into a quick hug before bringing her back to arm's length, though he kept his hands on her shoulders. "Adena has no reason to lie to me, 'Mione." he hesitated, fumbling over how to explain why he felt like he should do this, despite the dangers "Plus, it makes sense. I mean, how else am I able to talk to dragons? And..." he shook his head. "I dunno, it just feels like something I have to do, you know? Like how you felt when you knew you had to do something to save Buckbeak last year."

Hermione nodded a little bit, but she still looked worried and spun around to face Adena with her hands on her hips and a fire in her eyes that Harry has never seen before. "You better be right that Harry won't be injured or in any way harmed if he goes through this ritual of yours, or you'll have to answer to me." she threatened, completely ignoring the fact that the dragon could probably easily kill her of Adena really wanted to.

To Harry's great relief, however, Adena just seemed more amused than anything else. For a moment Harry had been worried the dragon would roast Hermione for saying something like that to her. ' _Tell your mate that you will not be hurt. I give her my word.'_ Adena rumbled in something that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

However, the raven-haired Gryffindor was gaping at Adena's choice of words and spluttered indignantly, feeling a blush spread across his face and reckoned he probably his complexion probably rivaled that of Ro-Weasley's hair. ' _Hermione isn't - she's not - she's just my friend!'_ He paused, and then corrected himself. ' _My best friend. But she certainly isn't my mate!'_

Adena didn't answer, but the look in her eyes was enough to tell Harry she didn't believe him so he ignored her (and Hermione's questions over his red face) and told the bushy haired Gryffindor what the dragon said (minus the mention of her being his mate; Harry didn't think she would like that bit too much).

Hermione looked pleased, thank goodness, but Harry was still a little hesitant to go through with it. He needed another opinion. As soon as his eye met Neville's, his doubts were washed away. Neville's eyes were full of confidence – in him. In Harry. No words were needed, but Neville spoke quietly anyway. "This is an honor, Harry. You did not grow up in the Wizarding World, which makes your doubts and fear understandable, but if you had grown up in our world…" he trailed off and shook his head. "You've got to do this, Harry. You must. It would be an insult to throw away something like this."

Harry nodded, shoving away his uneasiness as he gazed into the steady confidence in Neville's eyes before he turned to face Adena. He took a deep breath, then exhaled and met her eyes. "I'll do it." There. The words were out. No turning back now.

Adena bared her teeth at him in what Harry found himself hoping was a smile and the elder dragon rumbled approvingly. ' _You have made the right decision, Rider Potter. Your_ sanguinis fratris _speaks truth.'_ She inclined her head to Hermione and Neville. ' _We shall begin. Tell them to stand aside so they will not be burned. You can withstand the heat. They, however, cannot.'_

Harry nodded, biting on his bottom lip and wondering what he has gotten himself into as he told Hermione and Neville they needed to stand back. He was nervous, no doubt about that. He had just agreed to possibly being roasted alive – any sane person would be nervous! But between Hermione's hug and promising reassurances and the steely confidence that was in Neville's eyes as the other boy met his eyes and clapped his back, he felt like he could do anything. He ignored the nagging voice in the back of his head that said a certain prat should be here. He made his choices.

Steeling himself, Harry willed all of that Gryffindor courage to force himself to face Adena with his shoulders back and his chin held high. If this was true, which it seemed to be, then Harry would do his parents proud by not backing down.

Adena properly adjusted herself so she was no longer crouched over her eggs and Harry watched as she stretched herself up to her full height. Her brown scales seemed golden when the sun reflected off of them and her yellow eyes glinted as she looked down at him. A roar that began in Adena's chest rumbled its way out of her mouth. ' _Rider Potter, you are here to learn of the dragons and our ways of life. You accept the responsibilities held by your ancestors as your own responsibilities. You will follow in their footsteps as they have followed those who came before them. As a Rider, you will protect and guard the dragons to the best of your ability and beyond. You will train and you will learn and you will become one with the dragons. May the Lady Magic guide you and protect you as you advance into a new chapter of your life.'_

Instinctively, though unsure where the instinct came from, Harry knelt on the ground in front of Adena and bowed his head to her. Words flowed out of his mouth without thinking, but he knew he meant every syllable of it. ' _I will train and learn and do my best to become one with the dragons. I will protect them and cherish them with my heart, soul, and life. I will do by ancestors proud, so one day, future generations may look back and remember my name. May the Lady Magic guide me and protect me as I travel through this new world.'_

Harry raised his head and met Adena's eyes. The dragon spoke, but this time it wasn't English – er – or whatever it was dragons spoke. ' _Ut det tibi beneditionem deam.'_

Harry watched in fascinated slow motion as Adena opened her mouth and flames rose from her throat. He felt no fear, only a sense of rightness, a sense of being whole that he had never felt before. He stood up and met the bright yellow pillar of flame head on.

In a detached way, Harry heard screams and gasps and curses. People were shouting and clambering and being very rude trying to interrupt this ritual, but he was more focused on what was happening to _him_.

It was amazing. It was agonizing. The yellow flames danced around him and licked his skin like a harmless puppy whose master had just arrived home. It enveloped him completely and Harry finally had to close his eyes as the flames continued to get brighter and brighter. Agony ripped through the haze he was in and it felt like fire crawled into his body, crushing his bones and grinding away until there was nothing left, and then growing back, reforming stronger and heavier, stretching his skin. The relief from pain was brief.

Harry couldn't help the scream of pain that was ripped from his throat. His skin was burning, burning, burning away. It was melting off his skin, eaten away by the hungry, hungry flames. Black danced in his vision but Harry refused to give into it, choosing agony over relief, choosing courage over cowardice. He heard distance voices in his ears, encouraging him, giving him the support he needed to get through this.

The pain was gone.

It was sudden, like cold water being poured over him on a hot day after an intense Quidditch practice. He could – could feel his skin regrowing, mending together stronger and sturdier. It felt different, heavier (if skin even could be described as heavy) and his face felt different and his back felt heavier. His eyes snapped open to see pure white flames surrounding him instead of the yellow he had seen at first. This time, however, the brightness did not hurt his eyes and he felt – _free_.

He watched as his skin seemed to absorb the white flames, and he felt jolt after jolt of knowledge flowing through his mind. Images of lost times and lost people flashed before his eyes and he understood before he comprehended his understanding that this was Adena's knowledge. Knowledge she was passing on to him and everything clicked and became clear in his mind.

He twisted his neck, throwing his head up in the air and _roared_ with pleasure.

The flames died down and the exhausted dragon looked on proudly at the boy – no, man – who appeared from her flames. Whilst engulfed in flames, all of the dragon handlers had tried in vain to get control of Adena, to make her stop, but nothing would work. Now, the handlers and Harry's two friends stared at the man standing where Harry had stood moments ago. Adena had warned them the change would be drastic, and most of the changes to a Rider were physical, but they didn't think it would be this dramatic!  
This man did not even look like Harry.

In his place was a man of Harry's age, but several inches taller. He still had a slender build, but the muscles on his body were lean and pronounced. His hair was a mess, just like Harry's had been, but that was where the similarities stopped. This man had rich red scales covering his body from head to toe where his skin should have been. His features were sharper, more defined and he looked immensely healthier than Harry had ever looked.

His clothes were different as well. He now had on, not robes, but something of a combination of wizarding and muggle clothes consisting of a black shirt and what appeared to be a black dragonhide trench coat, black dragonhide trousers, and Muggle-looking dragonhide combat boots.

And he had wings!

Giant, pure black wings that stretched out at least six feet on each side of his body.

Of course, Harry was oblivious to most of this.

When he opened his eyes after the flame died down, he stood, gathering himself before he swept back down on his knees and bowed his head before Adena. His giant black wings spread out on either side of him, but to Harry, it felt so natural he didn't even notice it. _'_ Mater _, thank you for your role in this ritual. I am honored to have you as my binding dragon and mother to my familiar.'_

Adena crooned and suddenly there was an egg in his hands. It was about the size of his head and it was the most breathtaking thing he had seen in his life. It was a pale blue, with spirals and designs he couldn't even begin to fathom curling around it and glittering pale silver in the sunlight. ' _Thank you,'_ he replied softly as he stroked his hand across the egg of his familiar.

Harry stood on his feet and flashed a smile at Adena, cradling the egg close to his chest. He felt… he felt alive. He felt free, in ways he has never felt before. It was like there was this bubble of lightness surrounding him, a haze of happiness. Then he finally saw his arms, and took notice of his wings, and gaped at his clothes and came back down to reality. "Bloody hell…" he muttered, staring at his scaly red arms.

He twisted his head to look at his wings and for a brief moment he felt panic bubble up in his throat. How in the world was he supposed to get around now? He couldn't just show up to school with scales instead of skin and giant black wings sprouting from his - oh. The knowledge that had been burned from Adena's mind to Harry's during the ritual came flooding forward and he suddenly felt very embarrassed. He concentrated and pictured his scales melting into skin and his wings (it was going to take a while to get used to that) melting into his back.

Harry now looked less like a dragon and now more closely resembled the boy who had stepped into the flames of Adena's fire. His black hair was as messy as ever, but his green eyes flickered with very noticeable flecks of yellow, especially since it seemed his glasses had burnt away. His skin was toned, if a little pale, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a few weeks in the sun. All in all, he looked like the man he would have been if it wasn't for his awful Muggle relatives.

A cry of "Harry!" was all the warning the newly awoken Rider received to raise his egg out of the way before Hermione flung herself at him and almost succeeded in crushing a couple of his ribs. "Oh my Merlin, I was so scared! When Adena just engulfed you in that fire and I couldn't see you, I thought you were a gone!" Harry could feel a wet spot against his neck and felt immensely guilty for what Hermione must have gone through and hugged her back tightly. "Then you screamed and –" she drew back from the hug and slapped his chest. "Don't ever do that to me again!"

Harry couldn't help but stare. Hermione stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, her chest heaving as she fought for breath and tear tracks glistened on her cheeks that were red from and anger. Her eyes were sparkling with worry and concern and fear and relief.

 _She's beautiful…_

The realization almost made him stagger. Holy Merlin, what? No, he couldn't think about Hermione that way. She was like a sister to him, right? And Ron fancied her… but the excuses sounded weak even to him. Harry shook his head of the thoughts. He had other things to worry about. "I'm sorry, Hermione." He said softly, adjusting his grip on the light blue egg in his hands. "I didn't expect that, either." He chewed on his bottom lip as he slowly realized there were many people staring at him besides Hermione and Neville. "Ummm…" he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Hermione? Who are these people?"

Hermione didn't even have the chance to say anything before a well-built man with give-away Weasley red hair was making his way towards him, followed by a man with scraggly brown hair and a tad shorter than the Weasley, though he definitely had more scars on his face and vaguely reminded him of Moody.

"Harry!" Charlie Weasley clasped his free hand and shook it firmly. His blue eyes were glittering with awe and excitement. "Oh my Merlin," he echoed Hermione's earlier statement. "This is truly amazing... I thought they were all gone." He looked like he was going to say more, but was pushed out of the way as the heavily scarred man who had followed him took his place and bowed deeply to Harry. Harry was slightly taken aback at the action and felt extremely uncomfortable until the man rightened himself. "Er... hullo?"

The man inclined his head towards him respectfully, and when he spoke, Harry wondered if this person was a relative of Moody's.. "Hello, Rider Potter. It is an honor to meet you, and even more so to witness your binding ritual." His eyes gleamed in a way that made Harry narrow his eyes and want to take a step back. This man was dangerous.

However, he kept his mouth shut and merely nodded in acknowledgement. Thanks to Adena's knowledge, he knew how important the ritual really was and found himself wishing he had done it in a more private place where no one else would have been able to watch. But then he quickly dismissed the thought. It was already over and done with, no need to go wishing over things he couldn't change. "It's nice to meet you too." He felt Hermione take a step closer to him and Harry let himself relax a little at her unwavering presence.

Charlie cast an annoyed glance at the man as he drew the attention back to himself by saying, "Harry, this is Ralanor Selthe. He's one of our best dragon trainers." But the dislike on Charlie's face told Harry that he wasn't very popular.

Harry nodded once to Ralanor before he turned to Charlie, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable. "Um... Charlie... are you sure you should be talking to me?" he asked a little hesitantly. "I mean Ron - "

Charlie interrupted him with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Little Ron has some major jealously issues. He would be mad for days whenever Bill or I got something new and he didn't get anything. He resents not being at the center of attention. Mind you he's still family," Charlie added after a pause. "But he's being a prat right now, so it'd be best if you just ignored him."

For some reason, it was relieving to know that his relationship with the Weasley family wasn't going to be destroyed just because Ron was deciding to act like an arse for one reason or another.

"Harry, I have to ask though." Charlie began, a gleam appearing in his eyes that wasn't there a couple of seconds ago. "How long have you known you're a Rider? We've never seen one before. We know the legends are true, of course, but to finally see one up close - during the ritual no less - is just astounding."

"Yeah, well," Harry shifted his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. "I didn't realize until now how important the ritual was, and I didn't know I was a Rider until I started talking to Adena during the Task. say," he asked suddenly. "Does anyone have a mirror?"

"Oh, _Harry_." Hermione rolled her eyes when he glanced at her and she fished something out of her bag and handed it to him. It was a small, round mirror. " _Engorgio_." Hermione pointed her wand at the mirror and it grew until Harry could see practically his entire upper torso. He gaped at the man in the mirror.

Not only was he now taller, his face was filled out more so his cheekbones weren't as sharp and his crazy black hair seemed to have tamed and gotten darker (if such a thing was possible). His green eyes, which so often reminded him of his mother, now bore very noticeable flecks of gold, but that wasn't what held his attention. What held his attention was the pale red, intricate weaving design that faintly began on the inner corners of his eyes then wove down his cheekbones in a vine-like fashion to the curve of his jaw and disappeared underneath the collar of his jacket. The design fascinated him and terrified him at the same time. It almost looked like scales and claws and teeth all linked together in an undecipherable pattern.

He turned to face Hermione and she gently reached out with one finger and started tracing the design on Harry's cheek. "Amazing..." she breathed, her eyes wide with fascination and curiosity. No doubt she already had hundreds of questions whirling about in that brain of hers.

"Harry, mate," Neville walked up beside Hermione, staring at him in fascinated awe. "This is... incredible..." he whispered.

Harry glaced up and heard Charlie gasp slightly when he saw Harry's face fully. "Oh my... Harry, do you know what this means?"

Harry scowled at Charlie, feeling more than a little annoyed that, yet again, someone knew something that he did not and was expecting him to know it as well. "No, Charlie, I do not. Care to enlighten me?" he snapped, then took a deep breath and apologized for snapping, but Charlie waved it off.

"You went through much, it is fine, No, Harry, It wasn't there a minute ago, probably because it was was still forming, but these... designs on your face..." he paused for a moment, looking uneasy.

 _'I think what the young Trainer is trying to say is that our Lady Magic blessed you herself. It has been a long, long time since I have had the pleasure to meet a Rider who bore marks such as yours.'_ Adena rumbled, interrupting Charlie and staring at Harry intensely. _'You have great potential, Rider Potter, and our Lady Magic has bestowed upon you much raw power for a Rider so young. The Marks upon your skin is her blessing onto you. Every Rider has a blessing, but it is usually a Mark upon the hand or neck. Never before has there been such an intricate Mark placed by our Lady Magic upon a Rider's face.'_

Harry stood there, feeling extremely humbled and little overwhelmed. If his hand somehow found Hermione while Adena was talking, well, neither of them said anything. _'But, Adena,'_ Harry began, biting his bottom lip. _'Why would she choose me of all people? I'm not that special.'_

 _'But you are, my young Rider,'_ Adena hissed softly, her melted butter eyes gaining upon him and filling Harry with a warmth he had never felt before. _'Her Will is not to be questioned. Our Lady Magic has chosen and bestowed these gifts upon you for a reason, do not doubt her. She knows what She is doing. Do not take these gifts for granted. Study, Rider Potter, search within yourself and learn of the powers she has granted you and use them to help us, help the dragons.'_

The raven-haired Rider nodded slowly, a faint smile tugging on his lips when Adena told him he needed to study. For some reason, he had a feeling that Hermione would be more than happy to help him, and maybe even Neville as well. So, he turned to his friends and smiled slightly. "Who wants to help me research more about Riders? I got some information from Adena, but I'm going to need more if I'm going to figure this stuff out."

Hermione's eyes gleamed with determination as she nodded vigorously, her bushy hair bouncing around her head. "Of course we'll help you Harry." she shot a glance at Neville who quickly agreed with her. "Yes, of course we'll help." he promised. "My Gran has a bunch of old books about legends. I could have her owl some over and we can even look in the Hogwarts Library as well."

"Hey Charlie?" Harry asked suddenly, glancing from Selthe to the red-haired Weasley. "Can I talk to you for a second, alone?" he added, trying not to fidget too much as he all-too-reluctantly let go of Hermione's hand to lead Charlie away from the others. Once he was sure he was out of hearing distance, he faced the Weasley.

"What is it that you couldn't ask me in front of everyone else?" Charlie asked, looking a little concerned. Harry couldn't blame him; he wasn't usually one to keep secrets from his friends, but this was important and he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Hermione and Neville.

"Uh... well..." he fidgeted a little bit with his hands before looking up at the elder Weasley. "I wanted to know if it was okay if I came back here every once in a while to talk to Adena." he asked quietly. "I know the dragons aren't going to be taken back until after the Tournament is over, so I was hoping it would be alright if I came down here every once in a while."

Charlie blinked at him, looking a little lost. "Yeah, sure Harry, that's perfectly fine. I figured you might want to."

"Well," Harry interrupted. "I was kind of hoping you would meet me here, too, so I can ask you some questions about the Riders. And I - " he was cut off by the Chinese Fireball waking up and going on a rampage inside of her cage, thrashing against the chains and spewing fire. Trainers rushed to her tent and orders were being shouted to try and calm her down, but the dragon was too worked up. She wasn't even talking, just howling in agony and despair.

 _Of course._ Harry realized instantly. _She lost all of her eggs, she's bound to be terribly upset and grieving._ Something in his mind clicked at the same time the Chinese Fireball broke the chains and rammed her way out of the cage, snarling and breathing fire on everyone who got to close.

Harry needed to make sure no one got hurt. As quick as a snake, Harry was standing in front of the dragon, his hands palm out in front of them. _'Stop this at once!'_ he snarled with such an intensity he could feel his chest vibrating when he made he noise.

The dragon did not answer, instead breathing fire at him, but Harry simply stood there until she quit and put his hands out, slowly walking towards the dragon. He didn't speak, merely made comforting and reassuring cooing and rumbling noises from the back of throat to calm the dragon down. Slowly, ever so gently, Harry laid his hand on her nose and smiled softly at her. _'Sleep, my dragon. All will be well when you awake.'_

The dragon seemed to fall into a trance like state as she rumbled and stumbled back to her cage before abruptly falling asleep, curled around her empty nest. As if summoned by an unseen force, Harry went to each cave of the other three dragons and was granted one egg from each of them to give to the Chinese Fireball so the dragon could raise them as her own. For some reason, Harry knew if she didn't have these eggs to care for she would die. He would not let that happen.

Carefully, Harry put the eggs in the nest with the Chinese Fireball and watched with a small smile as the dragon curled tightly around the eggs to keep them warm. He exited the cage and went to Hermione, who was holding his egg and hugged her, taking the egg back. He stroked it softly once before glancing at his friends, who were staring at him in shock. "Come on," he said, snapping them out of it. "We need to get back. it's almost curfew."

The three made a quick farewell, with Harry promising to come back, before the trio made their way back to Hogwarts. It did not occur to him that Charlie never answered his question.

"Harry," Neville spoke up and the Rider gave him a swift glance of curiosity. "You know people are going to freak over this tomorrow. You have to carry the egg with you everywhere, and you have those designs on your face. People are going to want to know what happened."

Harry shrugged, though he had to admit he was a little worried about everyone's reaction as well. "Then if someone asks, we tell them the truth." he paused before adding with a smirk. "Unless its Weasley or Malfoy. Then we can just tell them I've turned into a dragon." The three laughed, soothing Harry's frayed nerves for the time being. He knew he was going to have a lot of explaining to do, and not because of his face but because of how much his body changed in the first place. And the egg... and dealing with Dumbledore... and Snape... and Malfoy... And Weasley... and the damn Tournament...

Inwardly, Harry groaned. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Review what your thoughts and suggestions are for the upcoming chapters! I always love hearing what you guys have to say and what you would like to see.**


	3. Just A Normal Day

**AGHH It is finally finished! So sorry for the long wait, things have been hectic. I went on vacation, then a camp, then lost my grandpa, so I haven't had much time to sit and write and my muse left me briefly. I hope you enjoy this chapter and again sorry for the long wait.**

 **Thank you so so much for all of the reviews! And follows! And favorites! And community additions! Like holy crap that's awesome! Two chapters and there are already 42 reviews, 201 follows, 122 favorites, and 4 community additions! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!**

 **I had noticed lots of people saying things about how similar this was to Eargon (or something like that) so I watched the movie (the book would have taken too long to read) and wow. I guess it is kind of like it. Whoops. I promise I didn't copy any of the ideas from the books/movie. I started writing this before I even heard about that**

 **Warning: This is currently unbetaed, as my beta is sick. Sorry for any mistakes and the revised version will be posted whenever my beta gets unsick.**

 **Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own Merlin**

 _ **!IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END!**_

Harry would wonder the next morning how he had managed to get back to the Gryffindor Tower without anyone seeing him, but for right now he was content to let whatever deity that was taking pity on his do its job and keep the other students away from him. The common room was empty, even though it was only a little past curfew, but Harry sank gratefully into the plush crimson couch anyway. He stared at the fire, suddenly feeling exhausted as the adrenaline and excitement wore off.

The couch dipped down next to him and he felt a lithe arm wrap around his waist and automatically he did the same. Harry tore his gaze from the fire long enough to smile tiredly at Hermione and notice Neville had sat down in the chair across from the couch. All three were silent, content on listening to the crackle of the flames before Hermione predictably broke the silence. "Harry... what are we going to do tomorrow?"

"We're going to walk into the Great Hall and have breakfast." Neville interrupted, rolling his eyes at the pair of them. At their shocked looks he sighed and explained his reasoning. "Look. Harry can't hide what happened to him beneath glamours. It's impossible. I remember my Gran reading me a story about a Rider named Falensco. Apparently, he didn't want to be a Rider like the rest of his family. He hated all of them. So he tried to bend in with the rest of the Wizarding World, but it didn't quite work. He tried every single glamour known to the Wizarding World and nothing worked." Neville frowned a little bit. "I guess I remember this story because it seemed so sad to me at the time. Falensco gave up on the glamours and moved to the Muggle World where he used Muggle Glamours to cover up his marks." he shrugged. "So unless Harry is going to move to the Muggle World forever, there's nothing you can do but appreciate the gift you have."

The story and speech Neville gave, however short, knocked Harry down a peg and a frown formed on his own face as he thought about Neville's words. "You're right..." he said slowly, gnawing on his bottom lip as he thought aloud. "I'm still not aware of what this whole Rider business is." he paused and met Neville's gaze. "But I trust you, Neville. If you say this is important, then I'll believe you."

Neville's gaze widened with disbelief and surprise, causing Harry to curse himself for not being a better friend to him in the first place. Neville should have expected that as Harry's answer; he shouldn't have been surprised. "Really?" the Gryffindor asked and Harry smiled, feeling more than a bit guilty and vowing to be a better friend to Neville from now on. "Yes, really."

"Alright..." Hermione let out a deep sigh and she had an uneasy look on her face. Normally, she would be demanding they speak to the Headmaster right then but Harry had the feeling she lost a lot of trust in the old man after the Goblet fiasco. "But if we're going to do this, we need to learn more about... Riders... as soon as possible. And not just legends. Real facts."

Neville nodded and murmured his agreement. "There are going to be a lot of people who will be scared. If they find out what dragon performed the ritual they will want to get rid of her."

Harry stared at Neville in shock. "What? Why?" he asked, disbelief coursing through his body. Why would anyone want to hurt Adena?

Neville sighed softly. "Times have changed. Centuries ago, you would be celebrated and honored the same way that some of the Dragon Trainers will react to you, now everyone's scared of anything unfamiliar to them. I don't know exactly what they'll try to do." he grimaced. "But it is possible that they will label you a 'dangerous creature' and try to strip you of your family name, title, money, everything." His eyes hardened and Harry was taken aback a bit by the amount of determination in his eyes. "But there will be people who will recognize your gift and will help you fight. I'll write to my Gran right now. I'll see if she has any books on it in the library so Hermione can look through them."

Then he was gone up the stairs back to the dorm, leaving Hermione and Harry staring after him in awe. "Who was that?"

"I believe," Hermione began, her eyes twinkling proudly. "That was the person hidden inside Neville's shell." Then she lowered her gaze and hesitantly let her hand drift over the egg Harry refused to let go of. "Everything's changing." she murmured softly.

Harry frowned a little. "Yes. It is." Then his frown turned into a small smile. "But, if everything hadn't changed, we never would have become friends with the other the other champions. We wouldn't have become closer friends with Neville." They both conveniently ignored the fact that if none of this happened, Weasley would still be his friend.

He remembered the day when he tentatively started becoming friends with the other champions, or at least, Fleur and Viktor. It was just two days before the first task and Harry was surrounded by books with his hands covering his face as he tried desperately to calm down from the panic attack that had overcome him. He had no idea where Hermione and Ron were and frankly, he didn't care. It was just too much; he couldn't deal with them to. How the hell was he going to defeat a dragon?

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, he forced himself to take deep breaths and focus on the sound of his breathing.

 **In.**

 **Out.**

 _ **Dragons.**_

 **In.**

 **Out.**

 _ **Oh Merlin.**_

 **In.**

 **Out.**

 _ **He was going to die.**_

With a cry of frustration, Harry swept his arm angrily across the table, knocking all of the books off onto the floor. He wound his hands in his hair and squeezed his eyes shut, rocking back and forth in his chair. He shouldn't have to worry about this. He should be rolling his eyes at Hermione's study plan for the finals that were months away. He should be training for the next Quidditch match. Ron should be destroying him at chess. Harry shouldn't have to be worrying about dying (he conveniently ignored the past two times Voldemort tried to kill him. This was different).

"Vey never should have let you compete." A familiar Bulgarian voice interrupted Harry's panic and he looked up to see Viktor Krum standing in front of the table Harry was seated at, his arms crossed and a frown on his face as he stared down at him. "You var young. Despite your... accomplishments."

Harry met the Bulgarian's unreadable eyes and forced a weak smile on his face, clenching his fists to hide his shaking hands that revealed exactly how terrified he was. "Yeah, well, can't really do anything about now, can I?"

Viktor was silent, and Harry was growing uncomfortable under that hard gaze when finally the champion sat down at the table across from Harry and folded his arms across his chest. "I am going to help. Because it is unfair for you to 'ave to compete in vis tournament vithout any help. You know less than the rest of us."

Harry had tried to protest at first, but Viktor just continued to glower at him until he gave in and they started discussing strategies, and Harry's strength, which was how they wound up talking about using a broom. He had smiled when they had parted ways, feeling that he had made a new friend in the gruff and stoic Bulgarian.

Sitting there in the common room, watching Hermione begin to drift off with her head against his shoulder and listening to the crackle of the fireplace, he had to bite back a smile. It was eerily similar to what happened on that day with Fleur.

He had been so frustrated one night in an abandoned classroom because he still couldn't get the damn spell right that he hadn't noticed the lithe figure standing at the doorway watching him attempt and fail to cast the spell, cursing while he did so. Harry almost jumped out of his skin when he felt gentle hands on his shoulders, digging into the muscle on his back. "You need to relax." A French accent murmured next to his ear. "You are too tense. You cannot cast a spell properly when you are frustrated like zis."

"How did you find me?" Harry asked, a little wary despite himself and trying to ignore how good her hands felt massaging his neck. "Why are you doing this? We're supposed to compete against each other. You shouldn't be helping me."

There was a pause and Fleur's hands reached a large not in his right shoulder, causing him to hiss in pain and pleasure as she worked the tense knot out of his skin. "You are young." she said, eerily echoing what Viktor had said to him the other day. "You should not be competing in zis tournament. You are a little boy, compared to the rest of us. I refuse to watch you get injured because my Headmistress did not wish me to 'elp a boy who was much too young to compete effectively."

The rest of the night, Fleur showed him ways to relax and calm down his body and his mind after she massaged all of the knots out of his shoulders. They worked on them all night until at some point, he fell asleep propped up against the wall next to Fleur with his head on her shoulder. He surprised himself when he woke up, because he never fell asleep in front of people he didn't know, but one reassuring smile from Fleur had him calming down. It seemed he might have found something in the French champion as well.

But, Harry reflected, brushing a stray strand of frizzy hair out of Hermione's sleeping face, neither of them would come close to what he had with Hermione. Their friendship was stronger than anything that had tried to knock it down so far, and he knew she would die for him, just as he would do the same for her.

Lightly, Harry pressed his lips to the top of her head before resting his head on top of hers and closing his eyes. As he drifted off, he had a small, content smile on his face. Yes, things may not be perfect right now, but he was sure that everything would be fine.

 **xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

What he had thought about everything being fine? Yeah, now he wasn't so convinced.

Thank Merlin he and Hermione had woken up early that morning before anyone else was in the Common Room, and after some desperate begging on Harry's part, Hermione relented to leaving the Common Room before anyone else showed up.

"You know you're going to have to face everyone at breakfast, Harry." Hermione pointed out gently as she adjusted the tie on her uniform when they stepped out of the Gryffindor Common Room.

Harry sighed. "Yeah, I know. But I'd rather do it at once with the entire school and just get it over with." He had checked the mirror that morning, but, unfortunately (fortunately), the red marks were still on his face. In the dark they almost seemed to glow.

To pass the time, Hermione insisted that they study for an upcoming test in Transfigurations instead of just wandering around the castle. Harry agreed, only because he felt kind of bad for dragging Hermione around all the time. Eventually, however, they had to go to breakfast because Hermione was getting hungry and Harry definitely did not want an irritated, hungry woman on his hands.

Harry stood in in front of the closed doors to the Great Hall and took a deep breath to try and calm himself. He felt Hermione's hand in his and he smiled weakly at her, feeling almost sick with worry.

"Hey, you'll be fine." she said softly, grinning up at him. "You're a dragon. Even I have to admit that's really cool." she smirked, which caught him by surprise because he hasn't seen her smirk very often. "I've only read about stuff like that in books. Harry, you've gone through stuff worse than this. And I'll be right here. I promise."

Harry sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, guess I should be used to being stared at by now." The young Gryffindor closed his eyes and steeled himself. It was odd; this feeling that had been inside him since Adena completed the ritual. It was constant warmth near his heart. It was the feeling he always got when he was surrounded by his friends - but he couldn't quite put a name to it. Absently, he ran his hand over his egg he was holding and took a deep breath. He could do this. He would make his ancestors proud by not flinching under the weight of their stares and sneers.

Quietly he walked into the Great Hall with Hermione by his side, carefully keeping his head down so the thick fringe of his hair would shield his face partly. They walked over to the end of the table where Neville was in a deep conversation with Cedric and sat across from the two of them. As soon as he sat down, the two boys snapped their attention towards Harry and Cedric's eyes widened comically.

"Oh my Merlin." he said in a hushed voice. "It's true... You really –" he cut himself off suddenly and lowered his eyes so he was staring at his shoulder instead of his face. "I apologize. I was being disrespectfully." he paused, leaving Harry thoroughly confused. What the hell was he apologizing for - oh? Information slowly sunk into his head Adena had transferred to him during the ritual. That was why he was apologizing.

Harry smiled reassuringly at Cedric, feeling a little amused despite the seriousness of the situation. "Cedric, you can look at my mark, it's alright. You're my friend, so I don't mind." At Hermione's confused look, Neville launched into a short explanation. "In the legends, staring at a Rider's mark was considering offensive. Depending on the rank of the Rider the punishment would vary. If it was a brand new Rider, it is considered offensive to stare until a month has passed. I read one story that the person who looked who wasn't family or friend was killed."

Harry rolled his eyes at Neville and shook his head. "Not quite, Neville." he paused, searching through the information in his head like he would search through a library. "It is considered disrespectful to stare at anyone's mark, particularly someone of high rank or a brand new Rider. Only family and friends of the new Rider or high-ranking Riders could look at his face and at his mark. The rest would be punished depending on their reason for staring. Curiosity would render a slap on the hand of sorts, but ill will or ill intentions would lead to a harsher punishment."

Hermione drank in the information with a hungry expression in her eyes, brimming with curiosity. "That's so interesting. Why? How do you know? You were just as clueless about all of this as I was yesterday."

Harry grinned a little bit at her eagerness to learn. "Well it seems during the ritual, Adena transferred some information about the Riders and dragons to me so I wouldn't be walking around blind, so to speak." he shrugged. "And I'm not sure why, but I can understand. I wouldn't want Malfoy or anyone like that staring at the mark on my face." he shuddered at the thought, disgusted, but not completely sure why.

Cedric had looked up earlier when he was given the okay and studied the intricate mark on Harry's face with obvious interest. His blue eyes were glimmering with curiosity and he seemed to be deep in thought as he spoke. "Why does it glow? It kind of glows a little red in the dim light."

The new Rider paused and searched through his head but ended up shrugging hopelessly, as unsure as Cedric. "I don't know. I noticed that this morning in the dark it was really bright. It was freaky."

"It's cool." Neville corrected, a small smile on his face. "My Gran told me that in the legends, the marks of Riders would glow if they were especially blessed by their Lady Magic. Perhaps you have been blessed more than the usual Rider, Harry." He looked a little wistful, and Harry reminded himself to talk to him about that later - alone.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "Great, another thing to make me seem 'special'." he grumbled, though he couldn't ignore the warm feeling that flood through him at Neville's words. "First the scar, now a mark. What's next?"

"Wings?" Hermione suggested and she and Neville burst into laughs while Harry scowled at them, unamused. Cedric stared in shock. "No way. You're joking." he stated and spun to turn to Neville. "Please tell me she is joking." But Neville was too busy laughing to answer.

Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair as Cedric stared at him, eyes even wider than they were if one could believe that. "Yeah, yeah, wings. You guys are hilarious." he said sarcastically before shaking his head and starting to eat his breakfast. He hadn't even finished his first bite of sausage when Neville spoke. "Um... Harry?"

Harry just grunted his acknowledgement that he was listening as he continued to eat. Man, he was starving this morning.

"Your scar is gone."

Harry choked on a piece of sausage he had been in the process of swallowing when Neville spoke. Hermione pounded on his back to help dislodge the sausage. "What?" he asked hoarsely, clearing his throat of the evil piece of sausage. "What do you mean it's gone?" He didn't wait for an answer, scrambling to grab his spoon and looked at his reflection in the curve of the utensil. His eyes widened as he lifted his fringe and gently grazed his finger over where the scar used to be. "Oh my Merlin..." he whispered, awed. "It's gone."

Hermione looked unworried, thoughtful. Her brow was scrunched up and she was lightly biting her bottom lip like she always did when she was concentrating on something important. "I wonder… Perhaps it has something to do with the ritual you went through with Adena." She suggested. "We should look through the books Neville's Gran is sending until we get a chance to talk to Adena again. We don't know what happened. All we saw was you getting engulfed in her flames."

With a start, Harry realized that he hadn't told his friends what had happened, so he did his best to explain, from the initial realization to the blood ceremony to the actual ritual itself. He struggled to describe the feeling during the ritual, the mind-numbing agony as it felt like every cell in his body was being ripped apart and morphed and made new again. He had to explain a few references, such as _Mater_ , which meant mother, and _sanguinis fratris_ , which meant blood brother (Neville blushed and Harry just grinned at him). He couldn't explain how he knew the words to the ritual, how they just seemed to flow out of his mouth, but he did explain what a binding and mother dragon is.

"A binding dragon is the dragon a Rider chooses to perform the ritual. Or rather, the dragon chooses the Rider. Once the ritual is complete, there is a bond between the dragon and Rider, which is why the dragon is referred to as the binding dragon." Harry explained to his two best friends, and his steadily growing Hufflepuff friend. "A mother dragon is the dragon that chooses to hand over one of her precious eggs to the Rider, if the egg allows itself to be given away. It is very rare for them to be the same dragon." He paused, a small frown on his face. "I feel like there's more but I don't know anything else. I think I'll ask Adena later."

His friends were silent before Neville smirked. "So basically, since Adena was the binding dragon and the mother dragon, you are just that much more 'special'."

Harry groaned and didn't bother to acknowledge that statement with an answer. They laughed and conversation turned to lighter topics as the four of them finished breakfast. The owls arrived, soaring through the windows in the ceiling and dropping packages and newspapers to their owners. A beautiful and majestic western screech owl swooped down towards them and landed gracefully in front of Neville, placing a package in front of him. Neville cooed and ran his hand down her reddish brown plumage and fed her a piece of bacon.

"A western screech owl?" Cedric seemed impressed, gazing at the owl. "Wow, I've only seen one of those once. They live in the Americas and Canada mostly."

Neville smiled as he relieved the owl of her burden. "Yes, Gran loved her plumage and temper." He chuckled as the owl gave him an affection nip and flew off. "We don't use Aithusa often. She is getting old, but she loves to stretch her wings from time to time." He opened the large package the owl had been carrying and smiled as he lifted four extremely tiny books out of the bag. He pointed his wand at the books and murmured an enlarging spell and the four books grew larger than _Hogwarts: A History_.

Hermione's eyes lit up at the sight of the books and her fingers twitched with the urge to grab them, Harry noticed with amusement, but somehow it seemed she managed to restrain herself. "Are those the books?" she asked eagerly.

Neville nodded and preceded to hand one book to Hermione, one to Harry, and one to Cedric – keeping the last one for himself to read. Harry glanced at the title of the book he had received. _101_ _Myths and Legends Surrounding Dragon Riders_. A quick glance at Hermione's book and he was immediately interested. She had a book about different stories of famous Riders. Unfortunately, none of them were able to read into the books because it was suddenly time for them to get to their first class.

Harry groaned. Great. No way could he avoid people seeing the marks on his face and how much he changed. This was definitely going to be a great day. With a start, he realized Potions was his first class and he grimaced. Fantastic.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

No one directly asked him to his face. Not even Snape had said anything, or insulted him, which was the bigger surprise. He just kind of stared at Harry a little weirdly whenever he thought he wasn't looking. Harry had tried to ignore it and focus on the _stupid, damn potion isn't working right_ , he grumbled to himself and sighed, crunching the beetle legs into a fine powder. Eventually he had to ask Hermione for help and then Neville's cauldron exploded and Snape dismissed the class so he could clean up and sent the students who were hit by the potion to the hospital wing.

Of course, the young Rider heard the whispers behind his back. It was like the first day he had come to school in first yea. People doubled back just so they could stare at the marks on his face, and everyone that did made harry want to growl and snap at them to keep their eyes to themselves. Most of the purebloods seemed to respect his marks and did not stare at them, at least not openly, and for once Harry found himself very grateful for purebloods.

Of course, there were always some people who just couldn't stand having someone different inside of the Castle. "Well, it wasn't enough for you to cheat your way into the competition. You just had to go and do something else to get some attention, didn't you?"

Inwardly, Harry groaned. He was going back to the Gryffindor Tower after a long day, eager to get his broom and go out on the Pitch to release some pent up stress. "I really do not want to have to deal with this right now." He muttered under his breath to Hermione.

Hermione squeezed his shoulder and spun around to face the red head that seemed to have taken the place of Malfoy as the person who showed them the most animosity recently. Actually, come to think of it, Malfoy hadn't said a word to him all day which was very unusual.

"Ronald Billius Weasley." Hermione began, her eyes narrowed in a way that once again made Harry very, very glad that he was not on the receiving end of her anger. "Get a hold of yourself. You know just as well as I do that Harry hates all the attention he gets. For some insane reason, you're just jealous that he was placed in a Tournament where he could easily be killed instead of you."

Weasley sneered at Hermione, seemingly unaffected by her words. "Whatever. I don't know who Harry is, not any more. He used Parseltongue to talk to a dragon and you know just as well as I do," he mocked Hermione. "That Parseltongue is evil. Now he shows up with those freaky marks on his face. He just laps up all of the attention he gets."

Hermione's eyes narrowed into slits and her hand twitched like she wished she could grab her wand and hex Weasley. "Do not say things like that, Ron. You know they aren't true. What has gotten into you, honestly! You and Harry used to be best friends! Are you just going to throw away all those years of friendship because you're _jealous_?"

Weasley stiffened and whipped out his wand and pointed it at Hermione. "I am not jealous!" he snapped harshly then sneered at Harry. "Why would I be jealous of a freak that has marks on his face and has to resort to a girl defending him?"

Rage flickered through Harry at Weasley's callous words. How dare he insult his Lady Magic and Hermione? His fist wrapped around his wand in his pocket as he felt the rage flash through him wave after wave, getting stronger like the harsh waves that appear on the ocean before a storm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Weasley." A familiar drawl cut through the haze of anger in Harry's mind and he watched as Malfoy strolled up to stand to the side in between Hermione, Harry, and Weasley. Malfoy jerked his head. "Unless you want to be roasted. Then continue insulting the Lady Magic. It will be most entertaining to watch."

With a start, Harry realized the hot rage following through him was more than rage and there was smoke puffing out of his mouth every time he exhaled and his skin was turning red. But he couldn't bring himself to care when he heard Weasley's next words.

"Oh, why," he sneered, completely oblivious to what Malfoy was getting at. "Is this Lady Magic," he mocked. "Going to burn me?"

"No." Malfoy laughed, a laugh that would send chills down your back. "No, She will not, but She will have him burn you." He smirked, pointing over at Harry.

Weasley paled and didn't even blink before harry was descending on him, rushing at him and shoving him up against the wall. He punched Weasley's jaw, hard, and snarled at him through the haze of fury. "Never insult the Lady Magic. If you ever do this again, I can promise you I will not hold back." He let go of Weasley and watched in disgust as he scuttled away in fear. Coward.

Silence had descended in the halls and all Harry could hear was his own heavy, labored breathing. Hermione hesitantly walked up to him and placed her hand on his arm, a small frown on her face. Before she could do anything however, Professor McGonagall came walking down the hall. With one stare, the students quickly went on their way and she approached Hermione and Harry. "Mr. Potter," she began crisply, as if he wasn't still filled with rage and breathing out smoke with a reddish tint to his skin and his mark glowing harshly. "The Headmaster wishes to speak with you, immediately. He told me to tell you he very much enjoys Lollipops."

Harry watched her walk away and then sighed, all the anger draining out of him at once when Hermione pulled him into a hug. "Sorry." He mumbled, feeling slightly ashamed of his actions now that everything was over.

Hermione ran her hand through his hair and he heard her answer next to his ear in a quiet whisper. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. Ron was acting like a prat and insulted the Lady Magic. He got exactly what he deserved and no less." She pulled back from the hug and smiled at him before shoving him down the hall towards the Headmaster's office. "Go, explain to Dumbledore." Her eyes held a warning. "But be careful of what you say, Harry. I don't trust him that much anymore."

Harry nodded and after a split second hesitation he pecked her cheek before turning around and quickly walking away, his face burning. He didn't look back, instead completely focused on going to the Headmaster. He agreed with Hermione, he didn't trust Dumbledore either and wasn't going to be quick in trusting him, but there was a part of him that wants to trust him and hopes that Dumbledore won't give him any reason not to.

The young Rider shouldered his backpack unconsciously, feeling comforted by the heaviness and the warmth radiating out of the bag that let him know his egg was still there. He bit the inside of his cheek as he made his way to the Headmaster's office. He knew what they were going to talk about, but harry was afraid of how much he should reveal. There was no way he was giving away his egg, and there was no way he was going to be separated from Adena now. He had too many questions and she was too important to him.

When he reached the gargoyle and uttered the password, he took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair to gather himself. Alright. He can do this. He'll be fine. It was just Dumbledore. Harry opened the door and held back a growl. Dumbledore and Snape and McGonagall.

All three adults turned to look at him and Harry forced himself to smile casually at the three of them. "Ah, Harry! Come, my boy, have a seat." Dumbledore greeted him warmly with twinkling eyes. "Would you like a lemon drop?" he offered.

Harry made a face and shook his head. Normally he would have accepted one, but for some reason it sounded nauseating. He sat down in the middle seat in front of Dumbledore's desk, in between McGonagall and Snape.

"Well." Dumbledore began, the twinkling in his eyes dulling as he grew serious. He folded his hands in front of him and stared at Harry over his half-moon glasses. "I think you know why you are here. This is about the mark on your face." He smiled gently. "I am sure you are probably confused and afraid; you must be to lash out at Ronald as you did so –"

"I am not confused, Professor." Harry corrected, interrupting Dumbledore. He bit the inside of his lip before continuing. "I am perfectly aware of what has happened to me. Weasley deserved what he got. He was mouthing off about things and insulted the Lady Magic and I could not let that insult go unanswered or I would be insulting Her just as he did." Harry twiddled his thumbs together in his lap as he waited for a reply.

"My boy, I do not think you really understand –"

"I understand well enough, Headmaster." He said smoothly, forcing a mask of indifference on his face so he did not reveal his irritation. "I know what happened to me for me to get these marks and for my body to change so dramatically. I know I am a Rider. I know I am one of the only known Riders alive and I understand most of what accompanies being a Rider." He smiled fondly. "Adena was very helpful and her knowledge is vast."

"Well, if you are so knowledgeable in this subject, Potter," Snape sneered, dark eyes piercing at Harry, but Harry evenly met his gaze. Snape faltered for a moment but continue none the less. "Then where is your dragon?"

"That depends on which dragon you are talking about." Harry answered, raising an eyebrow at his Potions professor. "My binding and mother dragon is out in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest with the dragon trainers and the other three dragons. My dragon, the one who has chosen me to be its Rider, is in a safe place. Excuse me if I do not trust you with his location, I am very protective of him."

"Well," Dumbledore let out a sigh and suddenly looked very old, though harry wasn't quite sure why the sparkle in his eyes had gone out. "Since it seems you have no questions, I will let the house elves know to adjust your meals to mainly meats. I will converse with the dragon trainers so you may visit your binding and mother dragon." He lowered his gaze to study Harry. "This is a very unusual circumstance, Harry. Hogwarts has not had a Rider within her walls for many, many centuries. She may choose to speak with you, or she may choose to speak with me on accommodations."

Harry frowned a bit. "What do you mean accommodations? Wouldn't I still be in the Gryffindor Tower?"

McGonagall shook her head and answered for the Headmaster. "No, you would not. Not only because of your animosity towards Ronald Weasley, but Hogwarts has a separate section reserved for Riders, but no one other than a Rider can find it. Not even the headmaster knows where it is. That's why the Professor said that Hogwarts may speak with you; to let you know where it is you need to go."

Harry was about to start protesting and complaining, but caught himself and thought about it for a moment. If he was to get his own space, then he could figure out exactly what else had changed and perhaps even try to get his wings back out. He could also study Riders and train for the Tournament without interruptions. "Alright." Harry agreed.

McGonagall looked surprised, as if she expected him to put up more of a fight. Snape looked a bit disgruntled but Dumbledore just smiled, the twinkle back in his eyes as he clasped his hands together. "Excellent! If you ever have any questions, do not be afraid to ask. Also, Harry, you must not lash out at those students who are unaware of the customs of Riders. Do not get angry when they stare. We will be starting a mandatory class on the basics of Riders immediately to deal with this and to get the students comfortable with the change."

Harry nodded and stood to leave. Dumbledore stopped him at the door and he turned to look at the old man with curiosity. "Yes, Headmaster?"

"You may be met with animosity and fear." He said quietly, his gaze intense. "There will be many who will wish to have you locked away and have your dragons killed because they fear what is different and unfamiliar to them. You must be prepared." He smiled knowingly. "I would suggest you ask young Longbottom and Diggory for advice. They will be able to help you."

Harry was slightly confused, but understood somewhat. He knew there would be people who would be scared of him, who would hate him, just like they did second year when it was revealed he was a Parselmouth. He made a mental note to talk with Cedric and Neville as he left the Headmaster's office.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

The room in which he stood in was dark and cold, despite the flickering green fire in the fireplace in front of him. He was kneeling down, long blond hair falling down his back as he leaned on his cane to keep himself balanced as he listened to this new information. His aristocratic features were morphed into a look of concentration. "Hmm…" he hummed when his friend had finished, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Interesting…"

"He has no idea of the power he possesses. He will need guidance. He will need political help, as well, or he will be shipped off to Azkaban without a second thought." The man in the fire place voiced their concerns, to which the man kneeling in front of the fireplace nodded slowly. "You are right, Severus. He will need help refining his powers and taking control in the Ministry. The Longbottom and Diggory boys may be of some help, but it will not be enough."

The man in the fireplace, Severus, nodded. He impatiently brushed back a piece of slick black hair behind his ear as he waited for his friend's decision. "We must do something else about this. He will become more powerful than the Dark Lord, this I have no doubt about." He kept his voice low, as if the monster they were conversing about may have spies hidden nearby. "This is our chance, Lucius." He urged, eyes pleading. "Young Malfoy can get close to him, offer him advice that he will need in order to get through the coming ordeal in one piece."

Lucius agreed with Severus. "Yes, you are correct. I will owl him immediately and tell him of this new plan." He was careful not to completely give himself over to the idea. There were many things he needed to think through, many decisions to make. "We shall see how the events play out. That is all I can promise you."

Severus nodded curtly. "That's enough." He hesitated momentarily. "Think of this, Lucius. The Potter boy may be an annoyance, but he is powerful and has much raw potential. Do well to choose which side you will be on in the upcoming war." Then he was gone.

Lucius gracefully rose from his knelt position in front of the fireplace and briskly made his way to his study. He sat, and began making out a letter to his son. He warned him to be discreet, to begin his change by quitting the insults, then offering help here and there, especially political help.

Lucius watched the owl fly off with the letter he wrote to his son. He was unsure of his stance, lingering in the gray, waiting to see which side was going to pull out stronger. He would wait, he would watch, and then he would decide. He was a Slytherin, after all.

 **I hope this was to your liking! Hopefully, the reason for Harry's sudden closeness to the other champions was explained somewhat. If anyone has any ideas or suggestion for what should happen in the next chapter, I'm all ears. My muse has currently abandoned me, so any ideas would be welcomed with open arms. Thank you and I hoped you enjoy!**

 **For anyone who has read or is reading my other story Skyfall – I am in the process of rewriting it. Some people have been confused, so I will try to clear this up.**

 **The current Skyfall will be staying on my page listed as discontinued. I will be restarting the story in an attempt to make it better. This story will still be called Skyfall, and the first chapter will still be somewhat similar, but after that everything else is different. I hope you will enjoy it and I hope that cleared up any confusion.**


	4. Draco's Observations

**So sorry for the long wait on this chapter! It was fighting me tooth and nail every step of the way. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy it regardless. I apologize if it might seem like a filler chapter, but there was much that I needed to add that would only fit in this way.**

 **Anyway, enough of me talking. Thank you guys for all the reviews and enjoy the chapter!**

There is no such thing as darkness. There is only the absence of light and in its place we call it darkness. In the absence of light that night, only the moon shone in the sky next to the twinkling stars. Clouds littered the night sky, bringing with it a foreboding sense of the winter that was looming on the horizon. A harsh breeze blew through the air, ruffling the jet black hair of one of the only living people to be up so late at night. Green eyes shone through the darkness. The intricate red Mark on his face was the only indication that this living person may not be quite human, and may be quite something else.

There is no such thing as cold either. There is only the absence of heat and in its place we call it cold. It was cold that night, and the green eyed teenage boy was walking across the grounds of the school like it was a warm, beautiful night out. He wore only a sleeveless shirt and shorts despite the frigid temperatures and harsh wind. Every time he breathed out, the air would steam in a way that looked suspiciously like smoke.

Narrowed silver eyes watched the boys every move. He knew what the green eyed boy was. A Rider, all extinct except for one – and now this boy, it seems. Two Riders in existence. Of course one of them had to be Harry Bloody Potter. Bitterness curled up in him, his thoughts leading towards darker paths on the unfairness that a half-blood was part of such a legendary race and not him – a Pureblood. He should be the one with a dragon familiar and a binding and mother dragon! Not this pathetic excuse for a wizard. A dark scowl formed on his face as he reluctantly dragged his thoughts off their dark path. Now wasn't the time to brood over this. He had a job to do, no matter how much he despised it.

Draco Malfoy was not someone who took orders from his father lightly. If his father told him he needed to do something important for him, Draco would drop whatever he was doing to do as he was told. That was why the protests were almost nonexistent when Father told him to follow Harry Potter even closer than he has and learn everything about him. Almost. "Get close," his father had ordered. "Be his friend. I don't care what it takes. I have a feeling, Draco, and I am not one to ignore my instincts. Potter will become very, very powerful. More so than the Dark Lord, but he will need help. And we will help him and get on his favored side before hell breaks loose."

Draco had his father's letter memorized. He had read it over and over all day and all night before sending back his response. He didn't want to, at all, but he would because he trusted his Father's judgement. He had seen Potter's marks for himself. He dared not look for more than a couple of seconds at a time, but even he could feel the raw power that seemed to suddenly surround the Gryffindor. While Draco wasn't intimidated by Potter (it was Potter for Merlin's sake) even he had to admit that he would put up one hell of a fight against the Dark Lord. But only if he was ready and right now he was anything but.

So he followed, quietly, unseen in the sanctuary of the shadows and living up to the values his House prided in. Draco slipped through the trees in the Forbidden forest behind Potter, carefully hidden under a disillusionment charm and a fancy charm he learned from his Father that would hide his scent and conceal the noises he made. Draco didn't want to get caught and wasn't taking any chances. He had thought this out carefully. He would follow Harry into the forest, watch, listen, find out information, and then report back to his Father. Without getting caught.

Draco stopped in the safety of the woods when Potter reached the location the dragons from the First Task were being kept. He went to the one on the farthest right end, greeting the dragon with a smile and a mixture of growls and rumbling noises.

They seemed to be conversing, Draco mused. Potter was waving around his right arm, eyes wide with something Draco couldn't decipher while he held his egg tightly in his left arm. He carried that damned thing everywhere. The dragon he was talking to let out a low rumble and then a series of growls and hisses. Whatever she said made Potter smile sheepishly and nod, rumbling back some kind of response. The dragon just snorted, and gestured with her snout at Harry. He hesitated, Draco noticed, but put his egg down in front of her cage and started taking off his robe and placing it on the ground, which was quickly followed by his sweater, undershirt, and tie.

The Slytherin could only watch in amazement as Potter's face morphed into a look of intense concentration and slowly, ever so slowly, wings started to unfurl from his back. It was the weirdest thing Draco had ever seen. It was like the skin was melting, morphing into dark scales and stretching out from his back. It was slow, and looked extremely painful from Draco's point of view, but eventually the wings unfurled completely. They spanned about four feet and were a light grey, a little darker than white.

Potter twisted his head to the side and looked upset, growling something at the dragon. She let out low rumblings, Draco could have sworn she was laughing and Potter slowly nodded as she rumbled and growled. He visibly sighed before stretching his wings out and the pale grey wings began to flutter ever so slightly. Even from here, Draco could see the pale sheen of sweat on Potter's face and the wings stopped fluttering as Harry snapped growls and hisses, obviously irritated about something.

Perhaps, Draco wondered, he needs some help getting off the ground. After all, he only became a full Rider yesterday. His wings are still new and weak. Like a baby birds. Just a lot bigger. And deadlier. Taking a calculated risk, Draco whispered a spell, twisting his wand in a forwards motion and watched as a gust of wind blew towards Potter. He needed to see just what Potter was capable of. Potter's wings seemed to instinctively cup over the wind and he rose up a few feet in the air with a look of shock and surprise on his face. Then, he eagerly began to flap his wings, slowly and strongly, rising a couple more feet off the ground before he stopped, lowering back to the ground. He looked exhausted, but pleased and rumbled something to the dragon.

The dragon, however, didn't appear to be paying attention. Her gaze was locked on the bushes Draco was hiding behind, disillusioned. He froze, hoping she didn't notice him there, refusing to even breathe in fear it would give him away. Potter seemed confused, but slowly, too slowly, the dragon moved her gaze back to Potter and shook her head, rumbling quietly. She nudged him with her snout and Potter smiled before his wings melted back into his back, though it appeared to still be painful from the way he gritted his teeth.

Draco watched, crouched on the balls of his feet as Potter put his clothes back on and grabbed his egg, growling something to the dragon. She let out a loud rumbling laugh and nudged him away, making Potter laugh and almost fall. He started making his way back in the direction of the castle and after a quick glance at the dragon, who was watching him leave, Draco followed him back to the castle as silently as he followed him to the dragons.

After confirming Potter was back in the Gryffindor Common Room, Draco mulled over his desk inside his dorm room, trying to figure out what he should write to his father. A lone candle lit the dark room, the only noise coming from Draco's quiet breaths, the snores of his dorm mates, and the crackling of the fire. He sighed softly, staring at the blank piece of parchment in front of him with a small frown on his face before he began writing.

 _Father,_

 _Not much to report. Potter went about his normal schedule until after curfew when I caught him sneaking outside. I followed him to the clearing where the dragons are being kept for the remainder of the Tournament. He carries that egg with him everywhere. The dragon he is bound to conversed with him for a short period of time, before Potter unfurled his wings in a pitiful attempt to fly. I took a calculated risk and created a small breeze for his wings to cup, and he rose a few feet and stayed there before he had to go back on the ground._

 _I do not believe Potter saw me, but I fear his dragon may have, though she did not give me away. He is not very strong. I noticed Potter, Longbottom, Granger, and Diggory meeting up in the library and during the meals. I will try to find out what they are conversing about._

 _-Your son, Draco_

Satisfied with his work, Draco lightly dusted powder over his letter and blew it off to dry the ink before rolling it up tightly. He secured it with the Malfoy crest and placed inside the drawer of his desk. He would deliver it to the owlery in the morning after breakfast.

Of course, since he had plans for breakfast, something just _had_ to happen during breakfast because Draco never got any peace.

Draco honestly hadn't even _done_ anything. He's just minding his own business when that one Weasley kid who has been hating on Potter recently comes storming up to him, ranting and raving about something before he even made it to where Draco was sitting at the end of the Slytherin table.

"What the hell have you done to him you evil little bastard?" Weasley snarled as he came marching up to Draco, fists curled at his side and his eyes wild. He looked like he would enjoy nothing else but punching Draco into a bloody pulp. "Harry was perfectly fine until this damned Tournament started. You had to have something to do with it!"

For once, Draco was completely confused. Of course, he didn't let it show. "Weasley…" he drawled, poking his pancakes with his fork. "I am attempting to eat breakfast, if you don't mind. I would like to eat my pancakes free of Weasley spit."

"Answer me!" Weasley growled, swiping his hand over the table angrily and sending Draco's plate flying onto the floor where it shattered none too quietly. The entire hall was silent and Draco forced himself not to roll his eyes. Of course the professors were just watching, letting things play out unless a wand was whipped out.

"Weasley." Draco said very slowly, as if he were talking to a child. Sometimes, he was very sure he was when he conversed with Weasley. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Now, if you could please leave my presence," Draco curled his lip in distaste. "I would like to eat my breakfast that I will have to get from the kitchens because you just destroyed my plate of food."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Weasley hissed, leaning forward and spraying spittle in his face. Draco grimaced and raised his napkin to wipe it off, eyeing the redhead in distaste. Oh, how he longed to just curse him and be over with it, but he couldn't with all the teachers sitting right there, watching them. So instead, he simply narrowed his eyes. "Weasley, if you know what's best you'd get away from me right now. I do not know who you are talking about," A total lie, it was so obvious Weasley was concerned in some mad way for Potter. "But I have nothing to do with it."

Weasley sent his fist flying but Draco ducked out of the way before he could make contact and frowned slightly in disapproval. "Now, that's no way to have a civil conversation. Though, you probably don't know anything about civil conversations." Draco added as an afterthought.

Draco had no idea what was going on inside Weasley's mind but it was obvious he was off his rocker. It was even more obvious when Weasley whipped out his wand and shouted "Affligo!" Before the spell could hit, however, suddenly Potter was there, shoving himself in front of Draco. Draco fell to the floor from the brunt of the impact and watched with wide eyes as the red light of the spell hit Potter square on the chest and then ricocheted off and back towards Weasley, who was knocked back like he had been punched.

Potter looked… well, like a Rider. Like the Riders he had seen in the picture books his mum sneaked to him when he was little. He looked strong and angry, his eyes full of fire, the mark on his face brighter than usual, and small puffs of steam coming from his nose every time he exhaled. Potter glared up at the professors in a clear 'you deal with him' look, before, surprisingly, turning to Draco and offering him a hand up.

Normally, Draco would have smacked it away, snarled something snarky, and gotten up by himself. This time, however, he warily accepted the hand up, to both of their surprise. Draco frowned a he stared at Potter, who was still way too easy to read. (He should mention that to his father. That needed to change.) Potter looked a little confused and surprised, but a lot angry when his eyes kept flickering to Weasley who was being led away by McGonagall.

"Thanks." Draco said shortly, following Potter's gaze to Weasley. He curled his lip in distaste. "That idiot is insane. What the hell happened to him?"

Potter sighed and shook his head, suddenly looking very exhausted. Draco suddenly noticed he wasn't carrying his egg. It was probably with Granger, Draco reasoned, glancing over at the Gryffindor table to confirm his suspicions. Potter wouldn't trust anyone else with it. "I don't know." He said finally, dragging Draco's attention back to him. "He's been acting this way since I got entered in the Tournament, convinced I've become some dark wizard or something."

Draco gave Potter a calculated look. Interesting… So the Weasley had it out for… who? Potter? Him? The Dark Lord? It was obvious he thought Draco had something to do with it, but it was unclear how long he would stay convinced of that. "Trouble in paradise." Draco commented, before walking off to leave to the kitchens, intent on not letting Weasley ruin his lunch before he sends the letter to his father.

Draco didn't remain in the kitchens for long (Merlin he hated house elves) but he did manage to get some wonderfully roasted chicken and delicious steamed veggies and fresh fruit, so he wasn't quite as upset anymore. With a satisfied smirk on his face, Draco decided he had enough time before his next class to check and see if his father had responded by now. It was not unusually for him to get a quick response on an important issue. Draco grimaced. Apparently Harry Potter was now an important issue.

That was one thing that would take Draco a while to get used to. Resentment and bitterness rolled inside of his like an angry snake every time he laid eyes on Potter. Why did he have – the blond haired Slytherin quickly shook his head, chastising himself while he walked down the hallway, deep in thought. He mustn't let his thoughts wander that way. It only leaded to things he would rather not think about at the moment.

Speaking of Potter…

Draco frowned as he passed by the Great Hall on his way to the dungeons. There seemed to be some sort of commotion going on… and obviously it had to do with Potter because everything had to do with Potter. Draco walked in and his frowned deepened at the scene he came across.

Four aurors were surrounding Potter, holding him forcibly in place since their magic would just rebound off of his skin. It looked as if they had dragged him out of his seat at the Gryffindor table. Granger was screaming at the two aurors advancing on her, holding Potter's egg close to her chest to prevent the aurors from taking it. Three more aurors were up talking with the professors and the Headmaster. None of them looked very pleased at the current situation.

It took only a second for Draco's calculating mind to decide what his best course of action would be, and once he decided on something, he never went back on his decision. Quickly, with a flick of his wrist his wand was in his hand, carefully hidden by sleeve of his robe. He was unnoticed, the commotion of yelling and confusion providing a distraction and he slid into the cover of the shadows provided by the flickering candles. Draco pulled his black hood up over his head to cover his bright blond hair and narrowed his eyes in determination.

This was who he was. Not Potter, someone who led the battle, led the charge into the thick of the fight with brazenness and a little bit of recess stupidity. Draco was the shadows; the darkness that clung to anything and everything it could get its hands on and could switch sides in an instant.

Quietly, Draco whispered two spells in quick succession, aiming them at the two aurors advancing on Granger. With deadly accuracy, the spell hit its mark and the two aurors collapsed onto the ground, out cold for a good hour or two. Granger's eyes were wide and wild, her anger being replaced with confusion and relief as she clutched the egg just a little tighter to her chest. She didn't seem to notice Draco in the shadows.

Potter must somehow have figured out his egg was no longer in danger, because all of his focus was on getting the aurors off of him. But, not even Potter can take out four highly trained aurors. Draco slid through the shadows and when he caught a glimpse of Potter's face, he found himself frozen to the spot in shock.

Potter's normal green eyes were glowing a fiery golden red and the marks on his face seemed to be glowing more brightly than usual. But what really caught him off guard were the changes going through his body. His face was changing, fangs visible from the snarl his mouth was curled into. His nose was elongating into the snout of a dragon and every time he exhaled smoke escaped his nostrils. "Let me go!" he snarled. His skin was shifting back and forth between skin and pale red scales, as if he was struggling to keep himself in control.

Draco needed to act quickly if everything was to stay in control. A quick glance at the head table showed the Headmaster calmly talking to the head auror; though the fire in his showed he was anything but calm beneath the exterior. The teachers looked just as flabbergasted as the students, though Draco was pleased to see his Head of House was taking in the situation with calculated eyes and a carefully constructed blank face, completely with his signature scowl.

Upon hearing another snarl and curse come from Potter's direction, Draco quickly turned his attention back on the problem at hand. Quietly, he uttered two conjunctivitis curses in quick succession at the two aurors closest to his position, watching grimly as they started wailing and backing away, their fingers tearing at the sudden pain in their eyes.

"Everte satum!" Draco pointed his wand at the two remaining aurors trying to keep Potter restrained (seriously, why didn't they try tying him up with rope or chains or something? How stupid are these aurors?). He cast the spell at each auror, sending them flying into the wall which effectively rendered them unconscious.

Potter's golden-red eyes locked with his and for a moment the snarl fell from his face, a look of confusion replacing it but Draco broke the eye contact before Potter could try and do anything. His work was done. Now, it was time to wait in the shadows and watch the events play out.

 **xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Adrenaline and fear and rage were filling every atom that made up his existence. He could feel his body beginning to change and he struggled to keep it normal, but the whirlwind of emotions was making it too hard to concentrate. Harry's vision was red and everything seemed sharper, clearer. He knew exactly where the aurors the enemies were at without even looking in their direction. He could practically feel their magic swirling around them, faster in the one who was conscious and slower in the four who were knocked out by an invisible ally.

Harry looked up and his eyes locked with one pair of bright blues in the cover of the shadows against the wall. Draco? He wondered. Before he could check, however, the person was gone. Whoever that was, Harry thought, he owed them a great debt. Harry wasn't such a fool as to not have noticed it was that person in the shadows who saved Hermione and his egg from the aurors.

But he could think about that later.

A snarl erupted from his mouth before he could stop it as he spun around to face the head auror who had frozen upon finding his six aurors all unconscious. Harry twisted his neck as his face morphed into the likeness of a dragon's face, his face elongating into a snout. The marks on his face were blazing red, brighter than ever before. He could feel the wings straining against his back, desperate to come out to give him flight and an advantage in battle.

The head auror had light brown hair and there was a scowl on his face, along with a little fear in his eyes. He could sense the auror's magic swirling around him at a quicker pace, hinting at the fear and anxiety he was feeling. The auror pointed his wand at Harry shakily, but he had to give him points for keeping his voice strong. "Stop! Stop it right now. Just surrender quietly and you won't get hurt."

Harry growled, narrowing his eyes as he slowly began backing away towards Hermione until he was protectively standing in front of her and his egg. "What the heck are you talking about? Why should I surrender? I have done nothing wrong!"

"You're a half-breed!" the auror spat, a look of disgust on his features. "All half-breeds must be taken into the Ministry to be examined and registered. Come with us now and we won't hurt you." His eyes flicked to the side where his fellow aurors were slowly beginning to regain consciousness.

Harry snarled, curling his hands into fists. Claws dug into his skin, piercing the flesh and the pain brought sharp clarity. Words flowed from his tongue without a thought. "I am no half-breed. I am one of the last Riders known in existence." He took a step forward, feeling pleased when the man stepped back. "You have no authority to take me in. Now leave before somebody gets hurt!"

"Leaving would be a good idea." Cedric's voice added from his right side, tight and angry. His blue eyes were full of an icy fire, his words sharper than a sword.

"Yeah, or else he could go full blown Rider and kill you." Neville walked up on Harry's left, an eyebrow raised with a similar fire in his brown eyes. "Or you know, call his overprotective dragon to take care of you."

The auror looked ready to protest, his misplaced confidence growing as his fellow aurors slowly took their place at his side but, luckily, Dumbledore seemed to decide it was time for him to do something about the situation. "You will leave." Dumbledore ordered, his voice grave and the twinkle missing from his eyes. Harry can't ever recall the last time he looked so furious. His magic was shaking like crazy. "You will not come back without reason. Mr. Potter has done nothing wrong. He has simply reached the Rider equivalent of when the students become of age. He is not a half-breed."

The head auror narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore, a scowl appearing on his face. "We have come under the direct orders of the Minister himself. We will not be leaving without Mr. Potter."

The other aurors looked uncertain, though Harry wasn't quite sure why. He would have to ask his friends what they thought about that later. If he saw them again.

"Then you can tell the Minister he can speak with me." Dumbledore said calmly as he stood, making his way around the Head Table to the aurors. "Come, let us further discuss this in my office while classes resume. It is the end of breakfast, you know."

The head auror's scowl grew darker, but he inclined his head in agreement and barked for the other aurors to follow him. Dumbledore led the group out of the Great Hall, winking at Harry as he passed him by.

Harry stared after them in confusion, barely noticing the professors ordering everyone to get on with classes as usual. He took no notice of the stares, still breathing hard with adrenaline and confusion pulsing through his veins. He knew he should probably calm down so he could change back but he couldn't quite bring himself to do that. He was just attacked His friends were just attacked. His egg was just attacked – HIS EGG!

With a panicked cry, Harry spun around and desperately searched the crowd of students heading to class for Hermione and his egg. His head spun so quickly, it would make any normal person get whiplash. His breathing was come in quick, shallow gasps and he almost jumped out of his skin when he felt someone's and on his shoulder.

Harry almost cried out in relief when he looked behind him to see Hermione, safe, holding his egg tightly, which was also safe. He hugged her quickly, being careful not to crush his egg and buried his snout in her thick, curly hair. They're safe. They're both safe. "We're okay, Harry. We're okay." Hermione's voice whispered softly in his ear and Harry felt more than saw his body changing back to normal. He could feel his face changing, his skin turning back to normal, and his wings stopped struggling to come free from his back.

Harry took one last deep breath before pulling back from Hermione and smiling at her, a little shaky but with less razor sharp teeth. "Thanks. And thanks for keeping him safe."

Hermione gently handed the egg back to him. "No worries. We were fine." She frowned a little bit. "Someone helped me. I don't know who it was, but all of the sudden the two aurors trying to take the egg from me were knocked out."

Harry mirrored her frown, gingerly smoothing his hand over his egg. It was glowing slightly, he noted. That was weird. "That happened with me to. Someone took down the four aurors surrounding me as well. I could've sworn it was –"

"It was Draco Malfoy." Neville said quietly. Hermione and Harry both turned to look at him. His eyebrows were furrowed in thought. "I saw him slip in during the commotion. He practically disappeared into the shadows, but I know that was him who took out those aurors."

"But why?" Cedric asked, his voice laced with confusion. His blue eyes flicked from Harry to Neville. "He hates all of you. Has for years, everyone knows that. Harry and Draco's rivalry is about as famous as Gryffindor and Slytherins rivalry."

Harry glanced in the direction he saw the blue eyes glowing from the shadows with a small frown on his face. "I don't like it." He said finally. "I don't think we can trust him. Draco always has some sort of ulterior motive to everything he does. He never does anything without a reason." Harry felt nervous even talking about it. What the hell was Draco playing at? "I need to talk to Adena."

"Harry, no, we have to go to class." Hermione shook her head, placing her hands on her hips and giving him The Look. The Look that she always gave him whenever he chose to do something other than go to class or do homework.

"Then go to class." Harry met her stern gaze steadily. "I need to ask Adena about what just happened I-" he sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I can't let what just happened happen again – especially if Draco is involved. I need to be able to keep my cool. When those aurors tried to take him from you…" his grip tightened unconsciously on his egg. "I thought I was going to lose my mind… It was like I couldn't think straight. Like the only thing that mattered was protecting him and screw everyone in my way." He shook his head, glancing at his friends who had all become silent. "I wanted to kill those aurors." He said softly, his heart tightening in his chest. "I don't want to be a killer."

Cedric clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder, his eyes serious but comforting. "Harry, if there is one thing we all know for sure; it's that you are not a killer."

Hermione studied Harry for a moment and though she still looked a bit upset, she seemed to understand that, for once, this was more important than class. "Alright. I suppose if you become a dragon in the middle of class it would probably disrupt the learning environment." She smirked and Harry rolled his eyes at her, once again gratefully he had such an understanding person as a friend. "I'll take notes for you."

Harry smiled weakly in thanks, glancing over at Neville when the boy spoke up, a deep look of concentration on his face. "I think I'm going to write to Gran, see if she knows what is going on. Those aurors shouldn't have been able to just demand you come with them like that." He blinked and glanced up at them and gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I just ruined the moment, didn't I?"

Harry laughed in a way he hadn't laughed since this whole situation began and slung his arm around Neville's shoulders. "Neville you didn't ruin anything. Come on, if you don't mind skipping class, maybe you can give me a hand with this whole learning to fly thing." Harry glanced over at Cedric as the four friends began walking out of the Great Hall, a small smile playing on his face. "You wanna come along, Cedric?"

"Unfortunately I can't." Cedric sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes as he continued. "It's my turn for an interview with the Daily Prophet today." He wrinkled his nose then smirked at Harry. "Though honestly, I can't wait to see what they do with your interview you have to give tomorrow."

Harry grimaced. Damnit, with everything going on he had completely forgotten about that. "What, you mean you think there's a chance that they're going to pound me with questions of my newfound heritage?" he asked sarcastically. "Now why would you think that?"

Hermione began protesting that no, of course they wouldn't pond Harry with questions of that sort because that would be terribly insensitive of them, as they walked out of the Great Hall. Unfortunately, the four friends were so caught up in their own argument that one tiny detail, or should we say person, was overlooked.

Eyes filled with loathing locked onto Harry's back, mouth twisted into a dark scowl that looked so unnatural on a usually relaxed and smiling face. Ronald Billius Weasley was now positive that something had taken his friend from him and replaced him with someone else. His friend wouldn't have gone crazy like that on the aurors. His friend wouldn't have transformed like that. His friend would not have defended Draco Bloody Malfoy. Something was going on here, and Ronald was going to get to the bottom of it no matter what it took.

 **I feel bad that this chapter is so short. I promise the next one will be a lot longer.**

 **So did you guys enjoy? Have any thoughts or things you think would be interesting to see? Review and let me know! I always love hearing from you guys!**

 **There will be much more action in the next chapter, as well as exploration into how Harry handles being a Rider and controlling his transformations. Draco will definitely make more of an appearance. Let me know what you guys thought of seeing things in his POV. Should I continue with it?**

 **For those of you reading A Tale of Gems, the chapter is shaping up very nicely. I am positive you will enjoy, and it should be up soon. By soon, I mean hopefully next week, or a couple days longer. It should be very interesting :)**

 **Who would you like to see more interaction with?**

 **Harry and Neville**

 **Harry and Hermione**

 **Harry+friends and Draco**

 **Harry+friends and Ron**

 **Harry and Adena**


	5. Neville's Revelations

**Forgot to mention. Neville may be a little OOC only because he's more confident of himself in my version. Neville is my favorite character ever honestly so he's going to get more love then JK Rowling gave him**

 **Well, sorry about the long wait. Life is hectic in the middle of the school year (ish) with exams coming up and tests to take. But, soon I'll have more free time so hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner. Enjoy the chapter!**

If there was one thing he was not expecting as Harry skipped class to talk to Adena, it was her blunt, ' _Is the female your_ coniux, _or your mate?_ '

Now, Harry isn't a very clumsy person usually, but he'd love to see someone be greeted by _that_ statement and keep their balance and not fall flat on their face in surprise and complete mortification while flailing around to make sure they didn't accidently squish their egg. He quickly scrambled back to his feet, instinctively looking around to make sure Hermione wasn't anywhere in the near vicinity, as in, three miles. ' _Adena_!' he hissed, glaring up at her in exasperation and embarrassment, heat licking at his cheeks.

Adena cocked her head to the side, sitting up in her cage with her tail curled protectively around her eggs. Her eyes glimmered with something that looked suspiciously like amusement, if Harry had to guess. ' _It is a simple question, Rider Potter. The attraction the two of you give off is obvious enough.'_

Harry shuffled his feet, feeling the heat of his blush spread down his neck. ' _Well… she's my best friend. She's been with me through everything._ ' He confessed, unconsciously running his hand over his egg to soothe himself. It calmed him, somehow. Kept him grounded. ' _But no. She's not my_ c-coniux.' He stuttered.

Harry swore that Adena just rolled her eyes at him, but he quickly continued talking before she could say anymore on the subject. He hasn't quite explored his feelings towards Hermione in-depth yet- still doesn't know how he went from seeing her as a sister to possibly… something else- and no way was he talking about it until he had it all figured out himself thank you very much. ' _Anyway_!' he continued quickly, not-so-subtly changing the subject. ' _That's not what I'm here to talk about_.' He shifted his weight from foot to foot, biting his bottom lip nervously. ' _Something happened today. Something… bad. I almost lost control of myself._ ' Harry admitted honestly. ' _I need to learn how to control it so that doesn't happen again. I don't want to be a killer… but I was so close today._ '

Adena rumbled with displeasure and automatically Harry walked right up to the cage and she nuzzled the top of his head gently through the bars. ' _Tell me exactly what happened, Rider Potter. I can feel the anxiety rolling off of you in waves._ '

Absently tucking away the fact that Adena can sense how he's feeling, Harry told her the story of what happened in the Great Hall. He told her how hard it was not to kill the aurors keeping him from his egg, how much harder it was to keep from mauling the aurors advancing on Hermione. He had a confused frown on his face as he explained what Draco did, which in turn led him to explaining his history with Draco at Adena's request. When he was finished, Harry didn't need words to tell she was – not anxious, exactly – but a little concerned.

After a few moments of silence, Adena spoke quietly to him. _'I would like to learn more of this boy. It is unusual he would help you after years of hostility aimed at you; even more unusual he was able to take down so many of your guardians without being noticed. However, that is a conversation for another time. You want to learn control, so that is what we will focus on.'_

Harry looked up and met Adena's eyes and smiled softly as he settled his egg down in the grass with the rest of her eggs that her tail curled around. He wasn't afraid to be separated from it here; he knew nothing bad would happen to it with Adena around. At her gesture, he took a few steps back until there was a decent amount of space into between him and his dragon.

' _Take off your shirt. With what I am going to teach you, your wings are going to come out. No point in ruining your shirt.'_ Adena told him, an amused sparkle in her eyes.

Harry nodded and did as he was told, precariously throwing his shirt to the side along with his dragonhide trench coat and he closed his eyes, a small smile on his face as he relaxed his body and let his wings unfurl from his back. The pale grey wings spread from his back and Harry let out a soft sigh of contentment. Having wings seems so weird, but at the same time it just feels so right to have them out. Without prompting, Harry began the exercises Adena had given him last time.

Slowly, Harry imagined his wings moving up and down very slowly, grinning a bit when he felt the draft against his back that proved his wings were moving. He pushed them faster, grunting a bit as he struggled to lift himself up off of the ground. The exertion was making him sweat as he struggled to lift himself up, and he frustrated when he only managed to hover a few inches off the ground. Then, suddenly, a gentle gust of wind blew at him and his wings instinctively cupped the wind and used it to push himself higher up the ground. He let out a whoop of excitement as he managed to get a good several feet off of the ground before he heard Adena rumble, 'Enough, Rider. Bring yourself back down to the ground.'

Obediently, Harry slowly let himself drift back to the ground. Well, at least he tried. It kind of ended up with him face planting into the dirt. "Bleck." He spat out the dirt in his mouth as he stood up, wiping his mouth off with his arm. "Gross. Ow. That hurt." He winced, gingerly touching his jaw.

"Good job!" A slow clapping came from his right and Harry glanced over to Neville walking out of the forest, clapping with a smirk on his face and his wand sticking out of his pocket. "That was very impressive. Really, truly." He said very seriously, though the laughter in his eyes took away from his tone of voice. "I haven't seen a face plant like that since Fred slugged Malfoy off his broom!"

Harry rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically. "Haha. Laugh it up." He huffed then asked curiously. "Was the wind you?"

Neville suddenly look a little sheepish as he came to a stop in front of Harry. "Yeah. You looked like you were having trouble, and I know that winged animals use wind sometimes to fly so." He shrugged. "Figured it was worth a shot."

Harry grinned, feeling truly grateful. "Thanks Nev."

Neville grinned back at him, flicking his wand between his fingers so fast it was almost a blur. "No problem, Harry. Sorry I was late. Got held up by a bunch of first-years who got last." He sighed in fond exasperation. "You'd think they'd have figured out how to get around the school by now."

Raising an eyebrow, Harry crossed his arms over his chest feeling unimpressed. "Oh really? Because I distinctly remember someone getting so lost in the castle even the professors couldn't find him until Peeves chased him into the Library."

Neville stared at him with an innocent expression, one that said, 'who, me?' before they both broke down in laughter. They were interrupted when Adena rumbled something close to a laugh. _'Rider Potter, as interesting as I find your conversations with your_ sanguinis fratris _, you did come here for a reason.'_ She gently chided him.

Now it was Harry's turn to look sheepish and he turned to Neville to explain. "She's reprimanding me." He chuckled. "Because I'm getting distracted."

Neville held up his hands and pointed to the edge of the clearing they were in. "Hey, don't mind me. I'm going to go sit over here and stay out of the way to avoid getting burned to a crisp."

Harry rolled his eyes; pretty positive he wouldn't burn Neville into a crisp but let him go without any argument. He focused all of his attention on Adena who nodded at him before she began to speak. _'First, I want you to willingly call upon your True Form. Focus on the fire in your heart. Unleash it from its cage; allow it to spread through your body as you imagine your inner dragon to be released. But be careful. I do not know all of the ways of the Riders but I have heard that their first conscious change is a struggle. You must not let the dragon inside of you gain control. Do you understand?'_

Harry nodded in understanding and nervously took a deep breath began following her instructions, having no trouble identifying the warmth settled next to his heart in the middle of his chest. He was glad he actually had something to call it now and not just the warmth in the middle of his chest. It was his Fire. He imagined it spreading its wings, imagined the fire spreading through every atom in his body until he was soaked in the flames.

It was more painful then he remembered.

A scream ripped itself from his mouth and his eyes squeezed shut as his skin began to tear and shift and transform into scales. It was agonizing. Every inch of his body was changing into something new. With a grunt, Harry fell to the ground, his back arching against the dirt and his neck twisting involuntarily as bones broke and reformed. A roar that was definitely not Adena's echoed in his ear. It was too strong. The dragon was too strong for him to control. A roar escaped from his mouth as he convulsed on the ground, hands fisting, back arching, teeth grinding.

It was like he was battling with himself. The dragon waking up inside him seemed to be trying to take control – and instinctively he knew he couldn't allow that to happen. He felt a snarl escape him as he struggled to gain control of the fire spreading throughout his body, trying desperately to rein it in – to take control – to make the pain go away. But as much as he hated to admit it, he was struggling. This was by far the hardest thing he had ever tried to do but he knew, just _knew_ , that it had to be done no matter how much it hurt. But he needed help.

"Harry!" A familiar voice cut through the haze of agony. Clarity struck him and he felt new strength flood through his veins. He couldn't let the dragon take control. He wasn't going to let it beat him. He roared and snapped open his eyes, leaping onto his feet and shooting in the air. His hand clenched as he fought for control, snarling to himself against his internal struggle as his body convulsed in midair, soaring high before stopping and falling and then flying again.

"Harry! You have to fight it!" Neville voice once again cut through the haze of pain and Harry knew he was right. But he also knew he couldn't just fight it. He needed to embrace it. So that's what he did. Slowly, oh so lowly, Harry forced his body to relax and imagined himself gently stroking the fire burning inside of him instead of trying to put them out. His fire kind of reminded him of a pissed off cat. At first the fire just continued to burn through his body, ignoring his gentleness, but it eventually started to come around and once it calmed down – oh!

It was the most amazing feeling ever.

His entire body no longer felt like it was burning, but instead it was like the comforting warmth that had been in his heart had spread through his entire body and settled in his bones comfortably. Harry whooped and opened his eyes, which had closed at some point during his struggle, just in time to see the ground and face plant into the dirt.

With a groan Harry rolled onto his back and grinned when he saw Neville's worried and panicked face come into his line of sight. "Oh my Merlin, Harry are you all right? What in the bloody hell just happened?"

Harry grabbed Neville's offered hand and was very proud of himself when he only winced a little bit as he got on his feet. "I embraced my dragon, Nev!" he flexed his wings, glancing over his shoulder to watch them curl before he turned back to Neville with the grin stuck on his face. "Mate, this is awesome!"

Suddenly Neville's hand reached out and smacked him across the face. Harry barely even blinked, his head barely moving from the force of the impact as he stared at Neville in surprise. "Hey, what was that for?"

Neville clutched his hand tightly to his chest and groaned in pain before glaring at Harry, but the young Rider didn't take it to heart because he saw the worry and fear in Neville's eyes. Immediately Harry felt guilty because yeah of course Neville was scared because harry didn't tell him what was happening and it looked as bad as it felt then… well, Harry can understand Neville's reaction.

"Hey, I'm sorry Neville." Harry said softly and walked towards Neville, hesitating before wrapping the boy in a hug. Neville was stiff against him for a few seconds before he relaxed and hugged him back, resting his chin on Harry's shoulder. Wow, Neville had been taller than him earlier this year. Adena's fire must have made him grow more than he realized.

"Don't ever do that again, alright?" Neville said quietly, his hands bunching in Harry's shirt. "That was horrifying to watch."

"Okay." Harry promised, but only because he needed Neville to calm down. Plus, he was about 90 percent sure that that wouldn't happen again. And if in the 10 percent chance it did… well, he would deal with that later. After another minute, they pulled back and Neville chuckled at him. "Mate, this is so weird. You look so different."

"Different?" Harry questioned?

"Your skin is still red and scaly," Neville elaborated, the edges of his lips curling into a smile. Your face shape kinda looks more defined and your eyes are like this golden rust color."

Harry blinked in surprise and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Adena. _'Rider Potter.'_

Harry motioned for Neville to follow him as we walked towards Adena, being careful not to accidently whack his friend in the head with his wings.

' _I must apologize, Rider Potter.'_ Adena said, bowing her head down towards the ground. _'I did not realize it would be such a struggle for you to transform into your True Form. I have only seen Riders swiftly change from one form to the other. I have never seen them train themselves to do it and I was unable to help. I apologize, Rider Potter.'_ She repeated, looking ashamed of herself.

An animalistic whine escaped Harry's mouth and he reached forward through the bars of her cage and ran his hand down the side of her face until Adena looked up at him. He smiled at her. _'You don't need to apologize. You know much, but there were things that the Riders kept from you – from everyone. It's alright. I've got it under control now.'_

Adena rumbled and rubbed her snout against his hand before pulling away and pulling herself up to her full height. _'Rider Potter, I also am obliged to tell you something interesting that I noticed as you and your_ sanguinis fratris _were talking. He has Rider blood inside of him.'_ She told him bluntly.

Harry blinked at her. _'What?'_

Adena sighed and rolled her eyes _. 'He. Has. Rider. Blood.'_ She said slowly, as if he were some little kid who didn't understand what she was saying. It was true, but that didn't mean he couldn't be offended about it.

' _I heard you the first time!'_ Harry growled and a frown worked its way onto his face. 'But I don't understand. You told me I was the only who had Rider blood. You never said anything about Neville before.'

Adena shrugged, looking unconcerned. _'I did not catch it before now. As you changed to your True Form, you must have called out to him because suddenly I could smell it on him and his eyes flashed a brilliant gold, very briefly. However, it is very weak. I am afraid that while he has Rider blood in him, it is nowhere near enough for him to have True Form, or even be able to bind with a dragon.'_

Harry thought for a moment, the frown on his face growing deeper as he thought and glanced at Neville standing next to him. "Neville…" he began hesitantly as Neville gazed at him with curious eyes. "Adena said you have Rider blood in you. Not very much," he added hastily at Neville's surprised and hopeful look, cringing when his face fell.

"Well… why is she just telling me – tell you this?" he quickly corrected himself. Harry could tell Neville was trying to hide his disappointment, but he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"She said she never noticed it until I unleashed my True Form," Harry explained, absently running his tongue over his razor sharp teeth. Huh. He had razor sharp teeth now. He sighed and turned his attention back to Adena. _'Why tell me this?'_ he questioned. _'Forget the whole honor bound crap. I'm so new at this – you could have just chosen to not say anything. It doesn't make a difference. Neville's a pureblood, so it would make sense if he had Rider blood in him.'_

Here, Adena grinned (as much as a dragon could grin) and thoroughly confused Harry. _'He doesn't have just any Rider blood. His Rider blood was brought from its dormant state when you revealed your True Form. His Rider blood is the same as yours.'_

' _And…'_ Harry trailed off blankly, still lost.

His binding dragon rolled her eyes at him and huffed _. 'Honestly, Rider Potter, for as strong and bright as you are you can be very slow. He is your sanguinis fratris. Your blood-brother. It is possible to make him a full Rider through a blood binding ritual. It has not been done in centuries, but if he wishes, it is possible for him to become like you.'_

Harry's eyes widened so much it seemed comical, full of surprise and excitement as the information slowly sunk in. Elated, the young Rider turned towards Neville, unable to hide his glee. "Nev! Adena says that your Rider blood is the same as mine! Which means through some kind of blood binding ritual you could become a full Rider. Just like me!"

Neville's jaw dropped in disbelief. "No way." He breathed and shook his head. "You're joking. You must be joking, right? Harry I swear if you're joking this isn't funny."

Harry shook his head adamantly, the grin on his face only getting bigger. "Nope! No joking! Completely, and totally not crazy Harry right here telling you the truth." Harry suddenly felt worried. "Is that okay? I mean, I can totally understand if you wouldn't want to become like me and have a bunch of people staring at you every day all the time –"

Neville cut him off quickly. "Are you kidding me? Harry, this is the best thing ever!" his eyes were shining like the stars above them. "I've wanted to be a Rider since I was little. And now, to find out that I can actually be a Rider? Hell yes!"

' _I'm glad to see he's so enthusiastic about this possibility.'_ Adena rumbled with an amused tone to her voice and when Harry glanced up she was looking at the both of them with fondness in her eyes. _'If Mr. Longbottom would like to being now, it would probably be best.'_

Harry nodded and relayed what Adena said to Neville, whose gaze steeled and nodded in response.

Adena settled herself on her stomach so she was eye level with Harry and Neville. Her molten golden gaze burned into them. _'This is not going to feel good on either side,'_ she warned and smiled grimly. _'But I'm sure you have probably already guessed that. Rider Potter, you and Neville need to face each other to begin.'_ After Harry explained to Neville what she said, the young Rider and Rider-to-be faced each other with only an arms-length between them. _'Harry, you must be the one to do the Ritual. I will guide you, but only you know the proper words for the Ritual.'_

Harry sent her a panicked look. _'Wait, what? What are you talking about? I don't know what this Ritual is! You said you knew it!'_

' _No I didn't.'_ she corrected quickly, growling a bit. _'I know not of many of the Rider customs that belong to Riders alone. Unfortunately, this is only one I have seen from afar.'_ Adena's voice softened into a comforting rumble that eased some of Harry's nerves. _'Look in deep inside of you, Rider Potter. Riders never truly go extinct, because their offspring has knowledge of things that are too important to be forgotten as soon as they are born.'_

Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes, feeling unsure of himself as he wracked his brain for the information he needed. Hermione popped up, oddly, and he suddenly found himself wishing she was there because she was so smart she would definitely know what to do. But she wasn't here, and he needed to trust himself. Adena believed in him. He could do this. He wouldn't disappoint her or Neville.

Harry imagined himself in the library, searching for a book on the ritual he needed for him and Neville. He opened book after book after book and useless and unnecessary information flooded him but he ignored it and began getting frustrated. He wasn't getting anywhere. Gritting his teeth, Harry took a deep breath to calm himself. Suddenly Hermione was shoving a book in his hands with a fond, yet exasperated look on her face. "Idiot. It's in here." Confused, Harry opened the book in his mind's eyes and immediately knew this was the right ritual.

Focusing on the present, Harry opened his eyes and held out his hands, waiting patiently before Neville got the hint and clasped his forearms. Harry's fingers tightened slightly around Neville's forearm as he began to speak. _'Lady Magic, I call up unto you in a cry of desperation. My blood-brother has been found, and through myself I offer upon a bond to share between us, to strengthen him to his full potential. I so humbly beg that you accept my request and allow myself to make my blood-brother a true Rider in your name.'_

Harry held his breath, not daring to move a muscle. Nothing happened for a few moments, but he refused to let his faith in the Lady Magic waver. He didn't even dwell on why his faith was so strong when he knew nothing about her a couple days ago. It just… was.

The air suddenly became electric with an almost overpowering sense of magic, completely unlike anything Harry has ever felt before. A genuine, heartfelt smile spread across Harry's face and he tilted his head up to the sky and then opened his eyes. _'Thank you,'_ he whispered, barely audible above the howling of the magic surrounding him and Neville.

Now that he had the approval of his Lady Magic, Harry continued with the ritual. Releasing his grip on Neville's arms, he chanted Latin words that just seemed to flow out of his mouth. _'Ave Domina, offero tibi sanguine benedictionem tuam.'_ As he spoke, Harry drew one of his claws across his palm with little hesitation. The magic in the air curled around the blood seeping from the wound, but Harry paid it little attention. He took Neville's hand and turned it so the palm was faced towards the sky as he chanted. _'Ave Domina, offero et suscepit sanguinem fratris tui sanguinem meum benedictione.'_

The magic curled around the blood seeping from Neville's wound and both his blood and Harry's blood floated into the air by the magic and when it fused together it glowed a beautiful, breathtaking crimson that stood out starkly against the slowly fading light in the sky. Distantly, he heard Neville gasp and whisper something, but it almost sounded like he was hearing it through water.

A grin broke out on Harry's face upon seeing the blood fuse and shine, his Lady's magic practically singing to him. _'Domina Magia, gratias ago tibi quoniam benedictio nostra referes.'_ Then his gaze met Neville's, silently asking him if he was ready. The other boy met his gaze steadily and Harry knew immediately that he didn't even need to ask. Satisfied, Harry grasped Neville's bloodied hand with his own bloody hand. _'Domina magia, quam dedisti nobis benedictionem tuam. Obsecro ut benedicat nos in veneficiis tuis. Curabit nos simul. Concede nostrum puteis manare cruor corda percutere, et ne unum quidem.'_

An involuntary gasp escaped Harry and he heard a similar one come from Neville as the magic swirling around them became thicker and stronger. Then his blood suddenly began to burn, starting at his hand and spreading through his body. It was one of the weirdest, most painful experiences he ever had next to his first transformation. His heart seemed to be working on overdrive and his eyes squeezed shut as he opened his mouth in silent scream. His breath caught in his throat and for the love of Magic it felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest if his lungs didn't stop working first.

As suddenly as it began, it ended.

The first thing Harry realized was that the magic that had been in the air he was gone. He felt disappointed that the comforting presence had disappeared, but he quickly acknowledged that his Lady could not be around all of the time and she had done more for him than he ever expected.

The second thing he realized was that Neville's eyes were glowing a brilliant sea green. Harry let out a soft gasp as he stared at the boy in front of him. Or, well, not so much a boy anymore. Neville has always been a little chubby, and though he had thinned out through the years, Harry could definitely see the change becoming a Rider had on Neville.

He was in his full form, his grown form, just as Harry was when he first Changed. Large, pale-grey wings spread out on either side of Neville, breathtakingly complimenting the blue sheen of his scales. It appeared he was the same height as before, but his figure had definitely trimmed down quite a bit. His face was a lot sharper and defined, his cheekbones seemed more pronounced and his hair had even grown a bit.

But his marks.

Oh they were beautiful and intricate. Curling around his eyes and cheekbones and holy Merlin they looked exactly like his! Except… they were glowing blue instead of red like his. Strange.

Neville twisted his head back and let out a positively elated roar to the sky and Harry grinned, joining in with a roar of his own. The two of them were echoed by Adena and the other three dragons in the clearing. It was an adrenaline rush. It was the best feeling ever.

Slowly, Neville began to change back and his wings melded into his back and the scales shifted back into skin. The bright sea green eyes were the last thing to turn back to normal. Neville stared at Harry for a moment before launching himself at him and hugging him tightly. Harry staggered a little, caught off guard, but hugged Neville back with little hesitation.

"Thank you." Neville said thickly against Harry's ear, his arms tightening around the raven-haired boy. "I can't believe it actually –" he pulled back, though he held harry at arm's length. "All that magic…" he asked hesitantly. "Was that the Lady Magic?"

Harry beamed. "Yes! Oh, Neville, she blessed both of us. That kind of blessing…" he shook his head, still feeling awed that such a thing happened to both of them.

' _Welcome to the world of Riders, Rider Longbottom.'_ Adena rumbled, bowing to Neville as she had done to Harry and as Neville bowed back, she growled her approval and the two of them straightened. _'Now, there are a few important things you two need to understand. You are full blood brothers now, in every sense of the word.'_ Her tail curled in what Harry assumed was a sign she was pleased as she looked at Harry. _'The most important thing is that since you two are blood brothers, in the Wizarding World Rider Longbottom's guardians can now claim legal guardianship over you.'_ Her eyes softened. _'During the fire ritual, I caught a glimpse of your past as we bonded. If you choose so, you never have to go back to them again.'_

Harry breath caught in his throat as he stared a Adena in disbelief. _'Now,'_ she continued. _'Technically, those guardians of yours could try to claim guardianship over Neville, but I don't think they will.'_

With a jolt, Harry realized she was right. Not only would they never, ever do that due to the Dursley's immense hated of anything magic or related to magic, but there was no way they would let him back with the marks on his face. There was no way they could explain that to anyone. They would sooner kick him out on the streets, and Harry didn't doubt they would for a minute.

Neville turned to him with a large grin on his face, his eyes sparkling with joy. In fact, Harry was filled with joy to because this was so unbelievable. "Oh Harry this is wonderful! You can stay at my house with me and you'll never have to go back to those Dursley's and you can meet my parents and –" he cut himself off, suddenly looking very unsure of himself. "I mean, if you want to. You don't have to, obviously but…"

Harry refused to let him finish, reaching out to hug Neville tightly, feeling tears prick at the edges of his eyes. "I would love to, Neville." He said thickly. "I would love nothing more." He pulled back and grinned at him. "After all, we're truly brothers now." He placed his hand over Neville's heart and felt himself relax as the steady thump-thump of Neville's heart beat in time with his own.

' _That is not all.'_ Adena interrupted them gently, a fond look in her eyes. _'A bond has been formed between the two of you. It is very weak, and will take quite a while to gain strength. But as the two of you grow closer, and the bond grows stronger, you will soon be able to feel what the other feels, know where the other is, and talk to each other through the bond link.'_

Neville's eyes widened. Harry glanced at him and grinned. This was going to be awesome.

' _Rider Potter, I apologize we did not get to work on your control as much as you would have liked to, but I hope you understand that having another Rider will help you keep yourself fin control.'_ Adena switched her gaze to Neville. _'You, Rider Longbottom, have great potential. The red marks, red scales, and darkening wings on Rider Potter mark him as a fire dragon. Your blue marks, and blue scales, and grey wings on you mark you as a dragon of the sea.'_ She paused, cocking her head to the side. _'If you wish, you two may come back tomorrow and we can work on your control and we can also discuss the significance of being a dragon of fire and a dragon of the sea.'_

Neville and Harry exchanged a glance before Harry spoke up. _'That's sounds perfect, Adena. We'll come directly after classes and do our best not to kill anyone.'_ He joked, though he got the impression Adena didn't find it funny.

' _I'll have to write to my Gran right away…'_ Neville mumbled to himself and glanced up at Harry shyly. _'Maybe she'll agree to gaining custody over you and you could come over for Christmas.'_

Harry smiled brightly at Neville. _'I would love that.'_ He gave the other boy a light shove and smirked. _'Now come on, let's get back before Snape finds us and decides to give us both detentions for breathing.'_

' _Wait a minute, young Riders, I'm not finished with you yet.'_ Adena rumbled in amusement. _'Rider Longbottom, you need a dragon. I am your binding dragon, because you bonded with Harry and I was Harry's bonding dragon. Come over here into my cage.'_

Neville hesitated, glancing over at Harry before slowly walking up to Adena and slipping through the large metal bars and into the cage.

' _Choose the egg that calls out to you and it shall be yours.'_

Neville's eyes widened at Adena before he took a deep breath and nodded. He made his way over to the eggs, and as if in a trance, he reached down and took one that appeared to be a gorgeous mix of light green and silver, intricate designs. He cradled it against his chest and when he turned around Harry saw him wearing the biggest smile on his face as he repeated thanked Adena before heading back to Harry.

Harry smiled at him, gently stroked his hand over Neville's egg, before bending down to grab his own egg from where he placed it near Adena's cage. The two made their goodbyes and headed back to the Castle, excitedly chatting about Neville's new found powers and discussing their plans for tomorrow.

Neither one of them even thought about what Hermione was up to. Perhaps it was better they didn't, at that point, or everything would have been different.

 **Oh no! What's happened to Hermione? Guess you'll have to wait and find out ;) review and let me know what you like! Review your suggestions and comments, I love hearing what each and every one of you say about my chapters.**


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